兰州大学循证社会科学交叉创新实验室 Innovation Laboratory of Evidence-based Social Sciences,Lanzhou University

Policies and Strategies to Promote Optimal Mental Health of Australian University Students: A Document Review.

2025-01-01

Issue addressed:
     
     University students experience higher rates of poor mental health compared with the general adult population. In 2022, Orygen released the University Mental Health Framework (the Framework) to guide universities on creating mentally healthy universities. This document review assesses the extent to which Australian universities' current policies or strategies align with the Framework.
   

Methods:
     
     A systematic search of all Australian universities' websites was undertaken in January 2024. Results that met the inclusion criteria had data extracted for alignment with the six principles of the Framework. The policy was scored a 0 if the principle was absent/not considered, 1 if it was partially considered, and 2 if all aspects were considered. Each policy received a total score from 0 to 12 for alignment with the Framework principles.
   

Results:
     
     Twenty-five of the 39 Australian universities (64%) had a policy/strategy publicly available on their website focused on promoting optimal mental health of students. The mean score for alignment with the Framework principles was 3.9 ± 3.9 (Range 0-12). Principle 5, which focuses on students' access to services, was the most considered (n = 23, 58.9%) Principle 4, which focuses on collaborative and coordinated actions, was the least considered (n = 13, 33%).
   

Conclusions:
     
     This document review demonstrates the considerable scope and opportunity to improve the policies and strategies currently being implemented across Australian universities to support the mental health of students. Universities and the mental health sector therefore should work collectively, alongside students, to guide mental health policy development in the university setting.
   

研究类型
系统评价
人群
混合人群
主题
["心理/精神卫生","卫生政策"]
国家
Australia
关键词
Australia, mental health, policy, student, university
来源期刊
Health Promot J Austr
发布日期
2025-01-01
全文链接
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40574310/
相关网址
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40574310/
DOI
10.1002/hpja.70066
作者
Alison Knapp Zoe Harrison Sjaan Gomersall Melinda Hutchesson Sienna Kavalec Tracy Burrows Lucy Couper