How to coordinate Longitudinal Studies into Student Wellbeing
There is limited robust data on psychological wellbeing in university students. We don't know enough about what the rates of student mental health problems are, what are the risk and protective factors, or how to intervene to prevent, detect difficulties and provide help.
Longitudinal studies provide a starting point for building up this evidence base. The SMaRteN Network has funded academics, clinicians and students at the universities of Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Sheffield and York to help coordinate the running of longitudinal student cohorts across the university sector. The work has a number of objectives, including:
To provide guidance for universities looking to establish longitudinal studies through virtual 'Cohort Clinics'
To provide an open access Cohort Starter Kit that contains standardised study protocols, ethics proformas, and participant-facing documents
To establish agreement across the sector about procedures for collecting data including which standardised measures to use
To explore the opportunities for data-linkage & sharing across universities.
