SMARtEN: Student Mental Health Research Network

Our vision is to change the Higher Education experience for all students and realise the ambition of an education system that supports students to thrive. Our network will build a comprehensive understanding of student mental health, including what good mental health means to students and the risk and protective factors that can be targeted to improve all students' mental health.

There has been great political, public and professional concern about students' mental health. The mental wellbeing reported by university students is among the lowest across the population. The sector has seen a dramatic rise in help-seeking with some institutions reporting that 1 in 4 of their students are either being seen by the university counselling service or are waiting to be seen. In the five years from 2010, there was a 210% increase in students with experience of mental health problems dropping out of university, incurring tuition fee debt and yet unable to yield a 'graduate wage premium.' While there is an obvious loss of return on public investment when students drop out of university, there are also expansive opportunities for a Higher Education system to support young adults to thrive in the present and future.

There is no clear narrative about the trends in student mental health or how best to respond. As such, developing effective solutions and allocating resources for a coherent institutional response is difficult and the potential for unintended consequences increases. The past 15 years have seen a rise in ad hoc arrangements of non-specialist, generic psycho-emotional interventions at all levels of the education system, administered and promoted by a flourishing commercial market. Extensive discussion with stakeholders, including lecturers, heads of teaching departments and heads of university counselling and support services, shows ambivalence and disagreement about what is happening and how best to respond.

Our cross-disciplinary team is committed to research and open-minded debate that looks at the balance between risk and benefit, addresses the contested and complicated questions and does not assume that any intervention must be a "good thing" in and of itself. The starting point for our network is that there is no single answer to understanding the challenges for student mental health, no single solution and no single discipline that can address all of the challenges. Our team brings together researchers with expertise in student wellbeing, psychology, epidemiology, social and economic research, anthropology, ethnography, informatics, social media, big data, arts, culture, education, behavioural science and mental health. As the network develops we will engage still more diverse experience and expertise.

The focus of the network will be to understand student mental health and mental health problems. We will address three questions;
(1) What is distinctive about the mental health experiences of students?
(2) What factors influence student mental health? and
(3) What can non-clinical universal approaches to student mental health achieve?

Engagement with students and key stakeholders (student support services, educators and clinicians) will maximise the benefits and impact of research and encourage knowledge exchange. Student engagement will be central to the network's core activities and include the development of a Student Research Team, a Priority Setting Partnership to establish students' priority research questions, two student-led mental health conferences and strong engagement across the other network activities.

Network activities will focus on four 'plus' funding rounds with each round including workshops and activities to support knowledge exchange, encourage collaboration, facilitate user engagement, and support creative applications from Early Career Researchers.

We are working towards a vision of a Higher Education experience that supports all students to thrive. Students are our primary beneficiary. The network and associated research will have direct impact for students, as well as indirect impact via benefits for stakeholders including educators and student services (e.g., university counselling services, wellbeing and disability advisors).


Students
This application has been inspired and supported by Student Minds. Students have been engaged in the development of this application, to gather ideas and suggestions and gain feedback on an early draft of the proposal.

The network's activities and 'plus' funded research will have indirect impact for students, by supporting better understanding of student mental health and facilitating further research to improve student mental health. It is important that interventions are based on a strong understanding; without this, developing effective solutions will be difficult and the possibilities of iatrogenic or unintended consequences will increase. All interventions will have unintended consequences or side effects - that in itself should not be a barrier. However, we are committed to promoting research that allows us to look at the balance between risk and benefit, and never assume that any intervention must be a "good thing" in and of itself.

There will be immediate and direct impact for students involved in the Student Research Team. We will work with a diverse group of students to provide training and experience, supporting the students to develop their own skills as they contribute to and inform the network's research. The network's activities will have direct impact for a wider group of up to 400 students, engaged through the two student-led student mental health conferences. These conferences will offer students the opportunity to develop their own understanding of student mental health, to engage with researchers and contribute to research decisions, participate in workshops and develop their own research skills.

Network activity will be shared through blogs and podcasts on the network website and social media in an accessible format to encourage much wider student engagement, building an interest in and understanding of issues around student mental health. Our ambition here is to foster a strong sense of student empowerment around mental health.


Educators
The Universities UK #StepChange framework for mental health proposes a "whole university approach," recognising the that mental wellbeing of academics working in Higher Education cannot be separated from that of the students they teach. Consultation with academics highlights that the mental health of students is a serious cause for stress and concern, with academics feeling frustrated by their, and their institutions, inability to respond effectively. The network will have a specific focus on education, with the aim of inspiring and enabling further research to study how pedagogy, course and assessment design can be adapted to enhance student mental wellbeing. Providing immediate direct impact, the network will collate resources to support academics to start to consider student mental health when designing curricula and assessment.


Student support teams
Consultation with student services leaders and university counsellors has identified ambivalence and disagreement about how to respond to the crisis in student mental health. Over recent years we have seen a rise in an ad hoc range of non-specialist, generic psycho-emotional interventions. The network will support a more strategic approach to student mental health.

Higher Education Policy
The network will contribute to and engage with ongoing work coordinated by Student Minds and Universities UK to explore policy strategy to improve outcomes around mental health and wellbeing in higher education.