No abstract

Suggestions are given as to how the learning environment in the nursing programme under study can be improved to take into account students' emotional well-being. Emphasis needs to be laid on developing supportive faculty role to provide conducive learning environment and professional development of students. Efforts to develop stress-free academic environment with supportive institutional policies need to be considered.

Over the last 25 years there has been an increase in reported behavioural and emotional problems among young people. Moreover, students in Higher Education are reported to have increased symptoms of mental ill health compared to age-matched controls. Some students in Further Education (FE) are likely to experience similar difficulties, especially as an increasing number may come from backgrounds that may make them more vulnerable to mental health problems. National policies and guidance highlight the importance of promoting the mental health of young people in general and of students in particular. This exploratory study aimed to identify whether, and in what ways, FE colleges were contributing to younger students' (aged 16-19 years) mental health and well-being and in responding to identified mental health problems. Particular areas of enquiry focussed on the links colleges had developed with other specialist mental health agencies and the factors that helped and hindered the development of services to promote and support student's mental health and emotional well-being. Methods Data were collected from three main sourcesinterviews with selected key informants with specialist experience in the issues, a postal survey of a stratified sample of 150 FE colleges, and focused case studies conducted in five FE colleges.