Skip to main content
header search
ahihi OpenLearn
OpenLearn
Menu
sticky search

About this free course

Become an OU student

Download this course

Share this free course

Course content Course content
Supporting university students with a mental health condition
Supporting university students with a mental health condition

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

More free courses

References

Baik, C., Larcombe, W. and Brooker, A. (2019) ‘How universities can enhance student mental wellbeing: The student perspective’. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(4), pp. 674–87.

Brown, P. (2016) ‘The invisible problem? Improving students’ mental health’. Higher Education Policy Institute, 88, p. 66. Available at: https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2016/09/22/3592/ (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

Campbell, F., Blank, L., Cantrell, A., Baxter, S., Blackmore, C., Dixon, J. and Goyder, E. (2022) ‘Factors that influence mental health of university and college students in the UK: a systematic review’. BMC Public Health, 22(1), p. 1778. Available at: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-13943-x (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

Gewalt, S.C., Berger, S., Krisam, R. and Breuer, M. (2022) ‘Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students’ physical health, mental health and learning, a cross-sectional study including 917 students from eight universities in Germany’. PLoS One, 17(8), e0273928. Available at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0273928 (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

Hubble, S. and Bolton, P. (2021) Support for disabled students in higher education in England. Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8716/ (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

Hughes, G. and Spanner, L. (2019) The University Mental Health Charter, Student Minds.

Lewis, J. and Bolton P. (2023) Student mental health in England: Statistics, policy and guidance. Research Briefing, House of Commons Library. Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8593/ (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

Lewis, J. and Stiebahl, S. (2025) Student mental health in England: Statistics, policy and guidance, House of Commons, London. Available at: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8593/CBP-8593.pdf (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

Lister, K., Seale, J. and Douce, C. (2021) ’Mental health in distance learning: a taxonomy of barriers and enablers to student mental wellbeing’, Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02680513.2021.1899907 (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

Mason, A. et al. (2025) ‘Prevalence, age-of-onset, and course of mental disorders among 72,288 first-year university students from 18 countries in the World Mental Health International College Student (WMH-ICS) initiative’, Journal of Psychiatric Research, 183, pp. 225–36. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022395625000950 (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

MIND (2022) Student Minds Research Briefing. Available at: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/uploads/3/7/8/4/3784584/2208_public_facing_research_findings.pdf (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

National institute for Health and Care Excellence (2025) Mental Health in Students: What are the risk factors?, NICE, London.

Office for Students (2019) Mental health: Are all students being properly supported?. Available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/mental-health-are-all-students-being-properly-supported/ (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

The Open University (2020) Student and staff mental health and wellbeing strategy. Available at: https://about.open.ac.uk/policies-and-reports/student-and-staff-mental-health-and-wellbeing-strategy (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

Payne, H. (2022) ‘Teaching Staff and Student Perceptions of Staff Support for Student Mental Health: A University Case Study’, Education Science, 12(237). Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/4/237 (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

Pereira, S., Early, N., Outar, L., Walker, L. and Dzikiti, C. (2019) Student Mental Health Survey 2018: A large scale study into the prevalence of student mental illness within UK universities, The Insight Network, London.

Simons, J. and Macaulay, C. (2025) Student perspectives of Associate Lecturer support for students with a mental health difficulty. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10779/ou.se.25858912.v2 (Accessed: 2 September 2025).

Spear, S., Morey, Y. and van Steen, T. (2021) ‘Academics’ perceptions and experiences of working with students with mental health problems: insights from across the UK higher education sector’, Higher Education Research and Development, 40(5), pp. 1117–1130.

Thorley, C. (2017) Not By Degrees: Improving student mental health in the UK’s universities, Institute for Public Policy Research, London.

Togetherall (2025) Togetherall. Available at: https://togetherall.com/en-gb/ (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

UCAS (2021) Starting the Conversation, UCAS Report on Student Mental Health, UCAS. Available at: https://www.ucas.com/providers/services/news/starting-conversation-ucas-report-student-mental-health (Accessed: 15 August 2025).

UUK (2023) Stepchange: mentally healthy universities, Universities UK, London.

Winzer, R., Lindberg, L., Guldbrandsen, K. and Sidorchuk, A. (2018) ‘Effects of mental health interventions for students in higher education are sustainable over time: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials’, PeerJ,. 6, e4598.