Teaching Staff and Student Perceptions of Staff Support for Student Mental Health: A University Case Study

Abstract

Background: There are significant concerns for student mental health in higher education. New factors affect student mental health, and campus counselling services are overwhelmed. Struggling students turn to ideally placed familiar teaching staff for support. This qualitative study, conducted in an East of England university, aimed to explore student and staff perceptions of support offered by teaching staff to students grappling with their mental health. It is unique, combining both staff and student perceptions, many of which overlapped. Methods: A thematic analysis was conducted of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a small number of self-selecting staff/students. Findings (results): Staff felt inadequate in several aspects, and students agreed to give useful suggestions for their preferred support. Conclusions: It was cautiously established that staff training in mental health literacy (knowledge, skills, attributes, and understanding) was required. Specific training was recommended in pastoral care for personal tutors and for staff pedagogy on health professional programmes. Finally, teaching staff needed support when supporting students with poor mental health. Such training and support can be integrated into a preventative, university-wide, holistic policy for student mental health commensurate with the University Mental Health Charter. Embedding such supportive practice into the curriculum is preferable to add-on services and/or interventions.

A student-staff partnership conducting research in higher education: An analysis of student and staff reflections

“…https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v7i1.5122 98 experience of the collaboration process, disadvantages, limitations, learning benefits, challenging experiences, possible next steps/career paths for the primary research project. From this investigation, a bigger picture organically emerged which was different from what would have resulted from solely documenting the outcomes of the primary research (Payne, 2022).…”

The Promoting Effect of Mental Health Education on Students’ Social Adaptability: Implications for Environmental

“…The role of a good and strong campus cultural atmosphere and diverse and effective campus activities in school education is immeasurable and cannot be replaced by any explicit curriculum and rules and regulations. As an environmental education force, it has a psychological impact and behavioral constraints on students' psychological feelings, psychological experience, psychological development, and even their learning, life, communication, and growth [ 18 ]. In accordance with the spirit of the relevant documents of the Ministry of Education, and in accordance with the requirements of the local education authorities and human resources and social security departments, organize students to carry out a series of special competitions to improve their psychological quality and vocational skills, such as career planning and design competitions, entrepreneurship design competitions, and vocational skills and competitions; invite human resources market managers, elites of enterprises and institutions, outstanding graduate representatives, etc.…”

“…The process of growth in life is actually a process of socialization. Socialization is the process in which people become qualified members of society with independent personalities through interaction with the social environment under specific social material and cultural conditions [ 6 ]. For college students who are in the midst of social change, with the expansion of college enrollment and the reform of the national distribution system, this is a test of their psychological quality and comprehensive quality.…”

It’s very difficult to set the boundaries, it’s human nature to want to respond: exploring health professions educators’ responses to student mental health difficulties through a positioning theory lens

“…From one perspective, the positions and storylines identified in this study could be seen as ways in which educators crossed over or stayed behind boundaries or were stuck between them. Much of the research on university staff interactions with students in need of support identifies the issue of boundaries as something that staff struggled with, suggesting that they need assistance either in making roles and boundaries clearer or in setting/maintaining boundaries (Payne, 2022 ; Vogan, et al, 2014 ). In practice, boundary work in relational interactions is more nuanced and complex (Hughes & Byrom, 2019 ; Hughes, et al, 2018 ; Mols & Pridmore, 2020 ).…”

“…In particular, these educators must juggle their responsibility to their students and their duty to protect patients and the profession into which students are graduating, creating dilemmas about when to be responsive, and to whom (Hughes, et al, 2018 ; Spear, et al, 2021 ). Challenges in maintaining the ambiguous boundaries between these roles and responsibilities, as well as between the personal and professional, are commonly reported (Hughes & Byrom, 2019 ; Spear, et al, 2021 ), with educators concerned about either overstepping boundaries or not doing enough (Hughes, et al, 2018 ; Payne, 2022 ). Navigating interpersonal closeness and distance in this way is a form of boundary work (Chreim, et al, 2013 ) requiring educators to invest additional time, effort, and emotional resources in their student interactions.…”