About the Research
Method
Aims
Our research aims to achieve the following:
Understand university students' mental health and well-being needs
Evaluate the reliability of commonly used mental health and well-being measures
Gain insights into students' experiences completing mental health and well-being measures
Understand the mental health needs of marginalised groups including men and minority ethnic students
Method
We aim to recruit 5000 UK university students to complete an online survey. The survey contains a battery of mental health and well-being measures and questions about students' experiences of completing the measures. All current university students in the UK are eligible to participate and we have a focused effort to oversample men and ethnic minority groups.
Implications
The research findings will generate recommendations for university support services aimed at refining the use of mental health and well-being measures. These outcomes hold promise in improving the quality of student mental health data and yielding robust insights into student well-being. These findings have a longer-term potential to guide staff training in measure usage and contribute to the development of effective mental health interventions for students.
References
Previous Literature:
Broglia, E., Ryan, G., Williams, C., Fudge, M., Knowles, L., Turner, A., Dufour, G., Percy, A., Barkham., M, & on behalf of the SCORE Consortium (2023) Profiling student mental health and counselling effectiveness: lessons from four UK services using complete data and different outcome measures, British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 51:2, 204-222, https://doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2020.1860191
Broglia, E., Millings, A., & Barkham, M. (2018). Challenges to addressing student mental health in embedded counselling services: a survey of UK higher and further education institutions. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 46(4), 441-455. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2017.1370695
Barkham, M., Broglia, E., Dufour, G., Fudge, M., Knowles, L., Percy, A., Turner, A., Williams, C., & on behalf of the Score Consortium. (2019). Towards an evidence‐base for student wellbeing and mental health: Definitions, developmental transitions and data sets. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 19(4), 351-357. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12227
Broglia, E., Millings, A., & Barkham, M. (2021). Student mental health profiles and barriers to help seeking: When and why students seek help for a mental health concern. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 21(4), 816-826. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12462
Priestley, M., Broglia, E., Hughes, G., & Spanner, L. (2022). Student perspectives on improving mental health support services at university. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12391
References for the mental health and wellbeing measures:
Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., & Williams, J. B. (2001). The PHQ‐9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 16(9), 606-613.
Spitzer, R. L., Kroenke, K., Williams, J. B., & Löwe, B. (2006). A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166(10), 1092-1097. Doi:10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092
Barkham, M., Bewick, B., Mullin, T., Gilbody, S., Connell, J., Cahill, J., Mellor-Clark, J., Richards, D., Unsworth, G., & Evans, C. (2013). The CORE‐10: A short measure of psychological distress for routine use in the psychological therapies. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 13(1), 3-13. Doi: 10.1080/14733145.2012.729069
Evans, C., Connell, J., Barkham, M., Margison, F., McGrath, G., Mellor-Clark, J., & Audin, K. (2002). Towards a standardised brief outcome measure: Psychometric properties and utility of the CORE–OM. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 180(1), 51-60. Doi: doi.org/10.1192/bjp.180.1.51
Sinclair, A., Barkham, M., Evans, C., Connell, J., & Audin, K. (2005). Rationale and development of a general population well-being measure: Psychometric status of the GP-CORE in a student sample. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 33(2), 153–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069880500132581
Tennant, R., Hiller, L., Fishwick, R., Platt, S., Joseph, S., Weich, S., Parkinson, J., Secker, J., & Stewart-Brown, S. (2007). The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): Development and UK validation. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 5, Article 63. Doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-5-63
Locke BD, Buzolitz JS, Lei PW, Boswell JF, McAleavey AA, Sevig TD, Dowis JD, Hayes JA. Development of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms-62 (CCAPS-62). J Couns Psychol. 2011 Jan;58(1):97-109. Doi: 10.1037/a0021282. PMID: 21133541.
Di Malta, G., Cooper, M., Bond, J., Raymond-Barker, B., Oza, M., & Pauli, R. (2023). The Patient-Perceived Helpfulness of Measures Scale: Development and Validation of a Scale to Assess the Helpfulness of Using Measures in Psychological Treatment. Assessment, 10731911231195837. Doi: 10.1177/10731911231195837