Managing student mental health: The challenges faced by academics on professional healthcare courses

Abstract

Aims To explore how academics on nursing and healthcare programmes are managing their roles and responsibility in relation to student mental health. Background There is growing concern about the mental health of university students in general and healthcare students in particular. Shifts in Higher Education policy, encouraging a “whole university approach,” may place greater responsibility for student mental health on academics. However, little is known about the challenges that poor student mental health creates for academics on healthcare programmes. Design A qualitative approach, using semi‐structured interviews and focus groups, provided the opportunity for in‐depth analysis. Methods Fourteen academics on healthcare programmes, including seven lecturers from nursing programmes, were interviewed between May–June 2017. Constant comparison analysis was followed to support grounded theory. Results Four key themes emerged. Academics had difficulty identifying and maintaining boundaries due to competing academic and professional identities. Student disclosures are accompanied by challenges arising due to professional responsibilities. Supporting student mental health on placement is difficult. Academics are aware and concerned about the potential negative impact of course content and practice on student mental health. Conclusion This is the first study to explore in‐depth the challenges faced by academics on healthcare programmes by the rising prevalence of and concern for, student mental health. The findings indicate that leaders of nursing education programmes and their managers, need to be aware that academics face complex challenges in managing and responding student mental health and may struggle to maintain boundaries due, in part, to competing professional identities.

Elevated psychological distress in undergraduate and graduate entry students entering first year medical school

“…Simultaneously, this may increase student mental health literacy and health seeking behaviour [ 43 ]. Furthermore, this strategy may also reduce the stress on staff, who themselves are at risk of mental health problems and burn out [ 44 , 45 ]. However, there are some barriers to consider such as student’s perceived risk to progression, cost, distance and leave for appointments, and academics comfort with pastoral care that also need to be addressed [ 46 – 48 ].…”

The influence of COVID‐19 on the mental health of final‐year nursing students: comparing the situation before and during the pandemic

“…Poor mental health has been associated with a significant deterioration in academic performance (Hysenbegasi et al ., 2005) and also with students abandoning certain studies (Bakker et al ., 2020; Bowman et al ., 2020). This phenomenon is particularly relevant in degrees associated with health, such as nursing and medicine (Hughes & Byrom, 2019). In fact, higher levels of depression and anxiety have been reported in students studying these subjects than other academic disciplines (Bakker et al ., 2020; Iorga et al ., 2018; Mitchell, 2018; Tung et al, 2018).…”

“Culture-Bearer, Culture-Sharer, Culture-Changer”

“…Therefore, participants described changing their personal behavior to be more effective examples for students. While research has demonstrated the potential role conflict and boundary confusion some faculty may face modeling prosocial behaviors (Hughes & Byrom, 2018;Kousholt & Fisker, 2015;Laws & Fielder, 2012;Poorman et al, 2011), these results demonstrate that after receiving bystander intervention training, the participants developed a new understanding of their role which empowered them to model prosocial behavior for students. Incorporating faculty into bystander prevention programming has the ability to help faculty navigate their role as both faculty and university culture-bearers and ultimately empowers them to challenge cultural norms by changing their personal actions (Graham et al, 2019).…”

“…Research indicates that faculty face challenges setting boundaries with students who are experiencing mental health challenges (Hughes & Byrom, 2018;Laws & Fielder, 2012;Poorman et al, 2011). Particularly faculty in healthcare fields, such as nursing, find difficulty in knowing when to assist students facing personal challenges with their mental health, as students often come to them for healthcare advice (Hughes & Byrom, 2018).…”

“…Research indicates that faculty face challenges setting boundaries with students who are experiencing mental health challenges (Hughes & Byrom, 2018;Laws & Fielder, 2012;Poorman et al, 2011). Particularly faculty in healthcare fields, such as nursing, find difficulty in knowing when to assist students facing personal challenges with their mental health, as students often come to them for healthcare advice (Hughes & Byrom, 2018). Furthermore, faculty expressed that the university administration is often unaware of the time faculty devote to assisting students with personal challenges and fails to provide faculty with resources to address the additional emotional load of this work (Laws & Fielder, 2012).…”