Addressing Mental Health Literacy in a UK university campus population: Positive replication of a Canadian intervention

Abstract

Objectives: Mental health concerns on university campuses are increasing in the UK. Improving mental health literacy (MHL) for students may be a useful part of an integrated approach to effectively address these concerns. This study evaluated a previously demonstrated effective Canadian campus MHL resource in a UK student sample. Design: This cross-sectional study conducted on one UK campus reports on student’s opinions about the impact of the Transitions (2nd edition) resource as well as applying a standard measure of MHL. Methods: Online survey using a convenience sample of students during semester 1 conducted over a 1-week period at a large UK university. Results: Use of Transitions (2nd edition) improved student self-reported mental health knowledge, decreased stigma and increased help-seeking intent. Significant ( p < .05) improvement in a standard MHL assessment was also found. Conclusions: These results suggest that the Transitions resource may be a helpful intervention in addressing student mental health in a UK university campus setting.

The Impact of Transitions, a Mental Health Literacy Intervention With Embedded Life Skills for Postsecondary Students: Preliminary Findings From a Naturalistic Cohort Study

“…These findings are consistent with the previous research on earlier versions of the Transitions, reporting it to be a helpful resource with demonstrated benefits for student postsecondary life. [40][41][42]47 The findings described herein not only replicated those findings in short term and further at 2-month follow-up using a more robust research design on more validated outcomes across different institutions. The finding that students who had lower mental health knowledge scores at baseline improved most indicates that it may be especially beneficial to students with a poor understanding about mental health.…”

“…This most recent version of the Transitions updated the previous edition by including input from first-year university/college students, mental health experts, student-services staff, and faculty members. Building on previous research using earlier versions of Transitions that had demonstrated preliminary evidence on the improvements in mental health literacy, [40][41][42] this current study applied a more robust research design with control groups in a large cohort that included both university and college students in five institutions of higher learning in Canada. This study hypothesized that mental health literacy embedded in a life skills resource for first-year students in postsecondary settings would promote student's understanding about mental health, improve their attitudes toward mental illness, reduce stigma against mental illness, improve their help-seeking efficacy and general health, and reduce perceived stress.…”

Mental health and wellbeing of postgraduate researchers: exploring the relationship between mental health literacy, help-seeking behaviour, psychological distress, and wellbeing

“…The inclusion of regressions extends previous research in this area (e.g., Gorczynski et al, 2017;O'Connor & Casey, 2015). Whilst the relationship between MHL and help-seeking is well-reported (e.g., Altweck et al, 2015;Gagnon et al, 2015;Gorczynski et al, 2017;O'Connor & Casey, 2015;Hunt et al, 2019). As others have highlighted, this study suggests that further work is needed to identify the strength of the association between MHL and psychological distress (e.g., Dumesnil & Verger, 2009;Reavley et al, 2014).…”

“…In addition, help-seeking behaviour is associated with a reduction in psychological distress and improved wellbeing for undergraduate students, possibly indicating a mediating relationship between MHL and these outcomes via help-seeking behaviour (Gorczynski et al, 2017;O'Connor & Casey, 2015). Furthermore, a programme of MHL in undergraduate students is reported to: (1) improve self-reported mental health knowledge; (2) reduce stigma; (3) increase help-seeking behaviour (Hunt et al, 2019).…”

Evaluation of Know Before You Go on mental health literacy and life skills to prepare for life after high school.

“…These findings resonated with our research on a similar resource Transitions , designed for first-year postsecondary students. This research indicated students’ knowledge about postsecondary life improved and they would like to talk to others (e.g., friends, roommates, classmates, and parents) as a result of reading Transitions (Hunt et al, 2019; Kutcher et al, 2015a; Potvin-Boucher et al, 2010; Wei et al, 2022). This indicated that the MHL approach with embedded life skills may have the potential to support successful student transitions to postsecondary life as it includes comprehensive and rich information relevant to youth new life experiences.…”