Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Background: Mental illness carries a significant societal and economic cost, and most lifetime diagnoses are made before the age of 25. Supporting post-secondary institutions in addressing student mental health may allow governments to prevent mental illness and promote wellbeing in young adults. We conducted a rapid scoping review to understand (1) how post-secondary institutions are addressing student mental health and (2) how governments are supporting these efforts.

Methods: We followed the Arksey and O’Malley framework to guide the review process. We searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and ProQuest systematically for scholarly work published between 2016-2019. Studies were included if they described an evaluation of a mental health intervention for post-secondary students in OECD jurisdictions. A thematic analysis was undertaken to describe the role of government support and identify best practices.

Results: We identified 62 studies evaluating mental health programs for post-secondary students, of which 15 showed significant and sustained impacts. Post-secondary institutions tended to develop the interventions, while governments provided funding, scaled up promising initiatives, set performance standards for routine monitoring, and engaged stakeholders. The following best practices emerged: whole-university approach, standards and evaluation, use of technology, tailoring to the university setting, risk-stratification, psychoeducational and clinical psychology practice elements, leveraging existing university resources, and forming external partnerships.

Conclusion: Our rapid scoping review of the recent literature described how governments may support post-secondary institution-led efforts in improving student mental health. Implementation and effectiveness of comprehensive government-led strategies appears to be a knowledge gap that should be addressed in future work.