A Scoping review of the mental health support and wellbeing resources provided to medical students by Australian universities
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background. In 2020, the Australian Government provided $660,000 to develop a mental health framework for universities to adhere to in support of the mental health of university students. To date, there has been no formal evaluation of the current UMHF. In this study, we aim to provide preliminary observations that will highlight the current state of mental health support provided to medical students at Australian universities and its alignment with the University Mental Health Framework (UMHF).
Methods. A total of 19 UMHF-based criteria for student mental health support across 21 Australian universities were assessed in January 2022 and reviewed in December 2022 via a combination of Google search and homepage traversal. These were subjected to chi-squared testing and linear regression analysis where appropriate.
Results. The majority of universities offered individual counselling, as well as mental health crisis line access. Most universities also offered MHFA training, mental health resources, and regular wellbeing sessions. However, there were a lack of published mental health strategies, and individual counselling offered was limited; there was also little support for rural students, and use of social media and wellbeing apps showed limited adoption.
Conclusion. Australian medical universities are somewhat lacking in counselling support: they overlook the mental health needs of rural students, but are also lacking in long-term support for all students. Additionally, universities appear relatively reluctant to adopt and incorporate newer technological trends into their mental health approaches. More work needs to be done across Australian universities to support the nation’s medical students.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
© Journal of Asian Medical Students’ Association (JAMSA). Released under a Creative Commons license.
References
Prince M, Patel V, Saxena S, Maj M, Maselko J, Phillips MR, et al. No health without mental health. The Lancet. 2007;370(9590):859-77.
COVID-19 and mental health. Lancet Psychiatry. 2021;8(2):87.
Moreno C, Wykes T, Galderisi S, Nordentoft M, Crossley N, Jones N, et al. How mental health care should change as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020;7(9):813-24.
Pierce M, Hope H, Ford T, Hatch S, Hotopf M, John A, et al. Mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal probability sample survey of the UK population. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020;7(10):883-92.
McGorry P, Bates T, Birchwood M. Designing youth mental health services for the 21st century: examples from Australia, Ireland and the UK. British Journal of Psychiatry. 2013;202(s54):s30-s5.
Auerbach RP, Alonso J, Axinn WG, Cuijpers P, Ebert DD, Green JG, et al. Mental disorders among college students in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Psychol Med. 2016;46(14):2955-70.
Crook S. Historicising the “Crisis” in Undergraduate Mental Health: British Universities and Student Mental Illness, 1944–1968. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 2020;75(2):193-220.
Hussain R, Guppy M, Robertson S, Temple E. Physical and mental health perspectives of first year undergraduate rural university students. BMC Public Health. 2013;13:848.
Bergmann C, Muth T, Loerbroks A. Medical students' perceptions of stress due to academic studies and its interrelationships with other domains of life: a qualitative study. Med Educ Online. 2019;24(1):1603526.
Kjeldstadli K, Tyssen R, Finset A, Hem E, Gude T, Gronvold NT, et al. Life satisfaction and resilience in medical school--a six-year longitudinal, nationwide and comparative study. BMC Med Educ. 2006;6:48.
McKerrow I, Carney PA, Caretta-Weyer H, Furnari M, Miller Juve A. Trends in medical students' stress, physical, and emotional health throughout training. Med Educ Online. 2020;25(1):1709278.
Voltmer E, Kötter T, Spahn C. Perceived medical school stress and the development of behavior and experience patterns in German medical students. Med Teach. 2012;34(10):840-7.
Manderscheid RW, Ryff CD, Freeman EJ, McKnight-Eily LR, Dhingra S, Strine TW. Evolving definitions of mental illness and wellness. Prev Chronic Dis. 2010;7(1):A19.
Dahlin M, Joneborg N, Runeson B. Stress and depression among medical students: a cross-sectional study. Med Educ. 2005;39(6):594-604.
Dyrbye LN, Thomas MR, Shanafelt TD. Medical student distress: causes, consequences, and proposed solutions. Mayo Clin Proc. 2005;80(12):1613-22.
Ventriglio A, Watson C, Bhugra D. Suicide among doctors: A narrative review. Indian J Psychiatry. 2020;62(2):114-20.
Improving mental health support for university students [press release]. Ministers’ Media Centre: Ministers’ Media Centre 2020.
Orygen. Australian University Mental Health Framework. Melbourne: Orygen; 2020.
Social Media: Victoria State Government Department of Education; 2021 [Available from: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/advicesocialmedia.aspx.]
Become a GP: List of Australian Medical Schools. RACGP; 2020.
WHO. Mental health: strengthening our response 2022 [Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response.
Eslabão AD, Coimbra VCC, Kantorski LP, de Pinho LB, dos Santos EO. Mental health care network: the views of coordinators of the Family Health Strategy (FHS). SciELO. 2017;38(1).
Brown JSL. Student mental health: some answers and more questions. Journal of Mental Health. 2018;27(3):193-6.
Hoffberg AS, Stearns-Yoder KA, Brenner LA. The Effectiveness of Crisis Line Services: A Systematic Review. Front Public Health. 2019;7:399.
Becerra M, Wong E, Jenkins BN, Pressman SD. Does a Good Advisor a Day Keep the Doctor Away? How Advisor-Advisee Relationships are Associated with Psychological and Physical Well-Being among Graduate Students. International Journal of Community Well-Being. 2021;4(4):505-24.
Wasson LT, Cusmano A, Meli L, Louh I, Falzon L, Hampsey M, et al. Association Between Learning Environment Interventions and Medical Student Well-being: A Systematic Review. JAMA. 2016;316(21):2237-52.
Collings R, Swanson V, Watkins R. The impact of peer mentoring on levels of student wellbeing, integration and retention: a controlled comparative evaluation of residential students in UK higher education. Higher Education. 2014;68(6):927-42.
Staats S, Armstrong-Stassen M, Partilo C. Student Well-Being: Are They Better off Now? Social Indicators Research. 1995;34(1):93-112.
Gentile JP, Roman B. Medical student mental health services: psychiatrists treating medical students. Psychiatry (Edgmont). 2009;6(5):38-45.
Jacob R, Li T-y, Martin Z, Burren A, Watson P, Kant R, et al. Taking care of our future doctors: a service evaluation of a medical student mental health service. BMC Medical Education. 2020;20(1):172.
Lytle MC, Vaughan MD, Rodriguez EM, Shmerler DL. Working with LGBT Individuals: Incorporating Positive Psychology into Training and Practice. Psychol Sex Orientat Gend Divers. 2014;1(4):335-47.
Rutherford K, McIntyre J, Daley A, Ross LE. Development of expertise in mental health service provision for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. Med Educ. 2012;46(9):903-13.
Perales F. Improving the wellbeing of LGBTQ+ employees: Do workplace diversity training and ally networks make a difference? Preventive Medicine. 2022;161:107113.
Coleman K. The Difference Safe Spaces Make:The Obstacles and Rewards of Fostering Support for the LGBT Community at HBCUs. SAGE Open. 2016;6(2):2158244016647423.
Davy C, Harfield S, McArthur A, Munn Z, Brown A. Access to primary health care services for Indigenous peoples: A framework synthesis. International Journal for Equity in Health. 2016;15(1):163.
Williams T, Lakhani A, Spelten E. Interventions to reduce loneliness and social isolation in rural settings: A mixed-methods review. Journal of Rural Studies. 2022;90:76-92.
Hadlaczky G, Hökby S, Mkrtchian A, Carli V, Wasserman D. Mental Health First Aid is an effective public health intervention for improving knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour: A meta-analysis. International Review of Psychiatry. 2014;26(4):467-75.
Jorm AF, Kitchener BA, Reavley NJ. Mental Health First Aid training: lessons learned from the global spread of a community education program. World Psychiatry. 2019;18(2):142-3.
Morgan AJ, Fischer J-AA, Hart LM, Kelly CM, Kitchener BA, Reavley NJ, et al. Does Mental Health First Aid training improve the mental health of aid recipients? The training for parents of teenagers randomised controlled trial. BMC Psychiatry. 2019;19(1):99.
Pham L, Moles RJ, O’Reilly CL, Carrillo MJ, El-Den S. Mental Health First Aid training and assessment in Australian medical, nursing and pharmacy curricula: a national perspective using content analysis. BMC Medical Education. 2022;22(1):70.
Reavley NJ, McCann TV, Jorm AF. Mental health literacy in higher education students. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2012;6(1):45-52.
van der Riet P, Levett-Jones T, Aquino-Russell C. The effectiveness of mindfulness meditation for nurses and nursing students: An integrated literature review. Nurse Education Today. 2018;65:201-11.
Warburton DER, Bredin SSD. Health benefits of physical activity: a systematic review of current systematic reviews. Curr Opin Cardiol. 2017;32(5):541-56.
Lattie E, Cohen KA, Winquist N, Mohr DC. Examining an App-Based Mental Health Self-Care Program, IntelliCare for College Students: Single-Arm Pilot Study. JMIR Ment Health. 2020;7(10):e21075.
Lee RA, Jung ME. Evaluation of an mHealth App (DeStressify) on University Students’ Mental Health: Pilot Trial. JMIR Ment Health. 2018;5(1):e2.
Latha K, Meena KS, Pravitha MR, Dasgupta M, Chaturvedi SK. Effective use of social media platforms for promotion of mental health awareness. J Educ Health Promot. 2020;9:124.
O'Reilly M, Dogra N, Hughes J, Reilly P, George R, Whiteman N. Potential of social media in promoting mental health in adolescents. Health Promot Int. 2019;34(5):981-91.
Salazar JMR. Inverted u-shaped impact of social media posting frequency on engagement and sentiment ratio. Empirical Quests for Management Essences. 2017;1(1):1-15.
Müller AM, Goh C, Lim LZ, Gao X. COVID-19 Emergency eLearning and Beyond: Experiences and Perspectives of University Educators. Education Sciences [Internet]. 2021; 11(1).
Figueroa CA, Aguilera A. The Need for a Mental Health Technology Revolution in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2020;11.
Martirosyan NM, Bustamante R, Saxon DP. Academic and Social Support Services for International Students. Journal of International Students. 2019;9(1):172-91.