Use of Text Messaging in a Mental Health Service for University Students

In the context of the national strategy Healthy China, it is imperative to establish a social mental health service system. Co-construction of universities and medical institutions is an important measure to respond to national policy requirements and improve the quality of psychological services for college students. In order to improve the quality of university students’ mental health, planning and deployment should be made in terms of top-level design and specific implementation plans to maximize the mobilization of resources of colleges and universities and the medical system, so that psychological interventions such as mental health education, psychological consultation, and psychological treatment can be integrated into university students’ mental health service system.

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Academic performance of students who underwent psychiatric treatment at the students’ mental health service of a Brazilian university

Sao Paulo Medical Journal ◽

10.1590/1516-3180.2016.017210092016 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 135 (1) ◽

pp. 23-28 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Cláudia Ribeiro Franulovic Campos ◽

Maria Lilian Coelho Oliveira ◽

Tânia Maron Vichi Freire de Mello ◽

Clarissa de Rosalmeida Dantas

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Academic Performance ◽

Mental Health Service ◽

Mental Disorders ◽

Health Service ◽

University Students ◽

Psychiatric Treatment ◽

Control Group ◽

Completion Rates ◽

Severe Mental Disorders

ABSTRACT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: University students are generally at the typical age of onset of mental disorders that may affect their academic performance. We aimed to characterize the university students attended by psychiatrists at the students’ mental health service (SAPPE) and to compare their academic performance with that of non-patient students. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study based on review of medical files and survey of academic data at a Brazilian public university. METHODS: Files of 1,237 students attended by psychiatrists at SAPPE from 2004 to 2011 were reviewed. Their academic performance coefficient (APC) and status as of July 2015 were compared to those of a control group of 2,579 non-patient students matched by gender, course and year of enrolment. RESULTS: 37% of the patients had had psychiatric treatment and 4.5% had made suicide attempts before being attended at SAPPE. Depression (39.1%) and anxiety disorders/phobias (33.2%) were the most frequent diagnoses. Severe mental disorders such as psychotic disorders (3.7%) and bipolar disorder (1.9%) were less frequent. Compared with non-patients, the mean APC among the undergraduate patients was slightly lower (0.63; standard deviation, SD: 0.26; versus 0.64; SD: 0.28; P = 0.025), but their course completion rates were higher and course abandonment rates were lower. Regarding postgraduate students, patients and non-patients had similar completion rates, but patients had greater incidence of discharge for poor performance and lower dropout rates. CONCLUSION: Despite the inclusion of socially vulnerable people with severe mental disorders, the group of patients had similar academic performance, and in some aspects better, than, that of non-patients.

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Uni-Link: A Mental Health Service Initiative for University Students

World Federation of Occupational Therapists Bulletin ◽

10.1179/otb.2006.54.1.008 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 54 (1) ◽

pp. 53-59

Author(s):

Clodagh Nolan ◽

Siobhan MacCobb

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Service ◽

Health Service ◽

University Students ◽

Service Initiative

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Demographics and complaints of university students who sought help at a campus mental health service between 1987 and 2004

Sao Paulo Medical Journal ◽

10.1590/s1516-31802008000100011 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 126 (1) ◽

pp. 58-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Maria Lilian Coelho de Oliveira ◽

Clarissa de Rosalmeida Dantas ◽

Renata Cruz Soares de Azevedo ◽

Cláudio Eduardo Muller Banzato

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Service ◽

Health Service ◽

University Students ◽

Interpersonal Relationships ◽

Psychiatric Service ◽

Mental Healthcare ◽

General Information ◽

Student Body ◽

Mental Health Centers

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Client characterization is an important step in evaluating the services offered by campus counseling and mental health centers and in their further planning and development. The objectives here were to describe reported complaints and demographics among students who sought counseling/mental healthcare at a Brazilian campus mental health service over a 17-year period and to compare these characteristics with those of the general university student body. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective study at the Psychological and Psychiatric Service for Students (SAPPE), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp). METHODS: The participants were all of the 2,194 students who sought counseling/mental health care at SAPPE from 1987 to 2004. Information was obtained from clients’ clinical charts. Unicamp’s database was consulted for general information on its students. RESULTS: The findings indicated overrepresentation, among the clients, of undergraduates, female students, students from Brazilian states other than São Paulo, students living in the campus residence hall and those whose main source of income was a scholarship grant. We also found overrepresentation of Humanities and Arts students among the clients. The most frequently reported complaints were difficulties in interpersonal relationships, family conflicts and poor academic performance. CONCLUSION: Course level (undergraduate or postgraduate), study field, living in a university residential facility and reliance on a scholarship grant were found to influence the behavior of seeking mental health counseling among Brazilian university students in this study. Course level was found to influence the pattern of complaints reported at first contact with the mental health service.

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Comparing a Peer-presented vs. Mental Health Service Provider-presented Mental Health Outreach Program for University Students:A Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.34168 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Laurianne Bastien ◽

Bilun Naz Boke ◽

Jessica Mettler ◽

Stephanie Zito ◽

Lina Di Genova ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Service ◽

Health Service ◽

University Students ◽

Service Provider ◽

Comparison Group ◽

Well Being ◽

Outreach Program ◽

Wait List ◽

Health Service Provider

BACKGROUND University students are reporting concerning levels of mental health distress and challenges. University mental health service provider (MHSP) initiatives have been shown to be effective in supporting students’ mental health; but these services are often resource-intensive. Consequently, new approaches to service delivery such as online and peer support initiatives have emerged as cost-effective and efficient approaches to support university students. However, these approaches have not been sufficiently evaluated for effectiveness or acceptability in university student populations. OBJECTIVE Thus, the overarching goal of the present study was to evaluate a MHSP-presented versus peer-presented online mental health resilience-building video outreach program against a wait-list comparison group. METHODS Participants were 217 undergraduate students (Mage = 20.40 years, SD = 1.96, 79.7 % women) who were randomly assigned to one of the intervention groups (MHSP-presented (n = 69) or peer-presented (n = 73)) or the wait-list comparison group (n=75). Participants in the intervention groups were asked to watch three brief skills-building videos addressing strategies for building mental health resilience, while the comparison group was wait-listed. The MHSP-presented and peer-presented video series were identical in content, with presenters using a script to ensure consistency across delivery methods, but videos differed in which they were either presented by MHSPs or university students (peer). All participants were asked to complete online self-report measures of stress, coping self-efficacy, social support, social connectedness, mindfulness, and quality of life at baseline (Time 1), six weeks later (Time 2; post), and at a 1-month follow up (Time 3). RESULTS Results from a series of two-way ANOVAs found no significant differences in outcomes between any of the three groups. Surprisingly, a main effect of time revealed that all students improved on several well-being outcomes. Additionally, results for program satisfaction revealed that both the MHSP-presented and peer-presented programs were rated very highly and at comparable levels. CONCLUSIONS Thus, findings suggest that an online mental health resilience-building video outreach may be acceptable for university students regardless of if it is MHSP-presented or peer-presented. Furthermore, the overall increases in well-being across groups which coincided with the onset and early weeks of COVID-19 suggest an unexpected pattern of response amongst university students to the early period of the pandemic. Limitations and barriers as well as research implications are discussed.

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