University staff experiences of students with mental health problems and their perceptions of staff training needs

Abstract

Background: University students experience high levels of mental health problems; however, very few seek professional help. Teaching staff within the university are well placed to assist students to seek support.

Aims: To investigate university teaching staff experiences of, and training needs around, assisting students with mental health problems.

Method: A total of 224 teaching staff at the Australian National University completed an anonymous online survey (16.4% response rate from n ∼ 1370). Data on mental health training needs, and experiences of assisting students with mental health problems were described using tabulation. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis.

Results: Most teaching staff (70.1–82.2%) reported at least moderate confidence in their ability to provide emotional support for students. However, many staff (60.0%) felt under-equipped overall to deal with student mental health problems; almost half (49.6%) reported they did not have access to formal training. Specific actions described in assisting students included referrals, offering support, or consulting others for advice.

Conclusion: Given the high rates of students who approach staff about mental health problems, there is a critical need to provide and promote both formal mental health response training and explicit guidelines for staff on when, how, and where to refer students for help.

Keywords:

• University
• teaching staff
• mental health
• gatekeeper
• student

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge Jade Chan for assistance with developing the survey questions.

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

This work was supported by the Young and Well CRC (youngandwellcrc.org.au). The Young and Well CRC is established under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program. KMG was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Fellowship [No.1059620].