Development of the Uni Virtual Clinic: an online programme for improving the mental health of university students

Farrer, Louise; Gulliver, Amelia; Katruss, Natasha; Bennett, Kylie; Bennett, Anthony; Ali, Kathina; Griffiths, Kathleen M

doi:10.1080/03069885.2020.1729341

Cited by 9 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The exact implications of this move, whether positive or negative, are yet to be fully realized or investigated. Examples of online interventions to better support student mental health outcomes have been previously described within the literature (Barrable et al, 2018;Farrer et al, 2020), with reference to made to the cost-effectiveness and efficiency associated with online provision. Whilst these illustrate the steps already taken prior to the pandemic to move services online, interacting with wellbeing/counseling staff in a live format, such as through Skype, had not been introduced.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Student Wellbeing at Universities in the United Kingdom: A Conceptual Analysis

2020

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Transitioning into the university environment can be both exciting and stressful for new and returning students alike. The pressure to perform well academically in an increasingly competitive environment, coupled with a vast array of lifestyle changes, can contribute to suboptimal wellbeing. Over recent years, uptake to wellbeing services within universities in the United Kingdom has grown given the concurrent rise in mental health difficulties reported. Higher education students now have to contend with a drastically altered learning landscape, owing to the discovery of novel coronavirus, Sars-Cov-2, otherwise referred to as COVID-19. In the United Kingdom, universities have moved to close their campuses to both students and non-essential staff in an effort to protect them from contracting the virus. The repercussions of these decisions have been monumental for the delivery of teaching, relationships and, importantly, the provision of student services. Ambiguity remains as to how teaching will be delivered for the forthcoming academic year. The uncertainty caused by the pandemic has yet to be considered in terms of student wellbeing and the new, mostly online, environments that students will be expected to navigate without their typical support networks. For the purpose of this paper, the concept of student wellbeing, a populationlevel term concerned with positive emotions rather than diagnosed mental health conditions, will be considered in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak. The current paper performs a conceptual analysis on student wellbeing in United Kingdom universities with a specific lens on the psychosocial impact of the global COVID-19 outbreak. Given the unprecedented world that students now learn in, considering the impact of the pandemic on psychosocial outcomes delineates the novel challenges that researchers and practitioners must consider when implementing student wellbeing initiatives moving forward.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Student Wellbeing at Universities in the United Kingdom: A Conceptual Analysis

2020

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“…This applied to the intervention called ThoughtSpot, for which we included the protocol ( Wiljer et al, 2016 ), the participatory design process, ( VanHeerwaarden et al, 2018 ) and the randomized controlled trial ( Wiljer et al, 2020 ). Similarly, for the intervention UniVirtualClinic, we included the participatory design process ( Gulliver et al, 2015 ; Farrer et al, 2015 ) and development of the intervention in our review ( Farrer et al, 2020 ). Consequently, our scoping review yielded a total of 19 unique interventions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All included studies were published between the years 2010 and 2020, as shown in Table 2 . ( Currie et al, 2010 ) was published in 2010, ( Doherty et al, 2012 ) was published in 2012, ( Huang et al, 2015 ; Gulliver et al, 2015 ; Farrer et al, 2015 ) were published in 2015, ( Hookham et al, 2016 ; Costa et al, 2016 ; Wiljer et al, 2016 ) were published in 2016, ( Ananthabhotla et al, 2017 ; Khan and Pea, 2017 ) were 2017, ( VanHeerwaarden et al, 2018 ; Meng et al, 2018 ) were published in 2018, ( Rodgers et al, 2019 ; Hickie et al, 2019 ; Coughlan et al, 2019 ; Yoo and Choudhury, 2019 ; Papadatou-Pastou et al, 2019 ) were published in 2019, and ( Báldy et al, 2020 ; Kim et al, 2020 ; Wiljer et al, 2020 ; Farrer et al, 2020 ; Morr et al, 2020 ; Kajitani et al, 2020 ) were published in 2020.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Co-design involved young people, supportive others, health professionals and service providers. Framework : Participatory Design of Evidence-based Online Youth Mental Health Promotion, Prevention, Early Intervention, and Treatment ( Hagen et al, 2012 ) N/A Coughlan et al (2019) Name : Our Journey Target : Mental health and wellbeing Type : Web-based platform Stage : Developed, not tested in a pilot Duration : N/A • Co-design workshop Process : Participatory design with students, student union representatives, and staff (in student support roles, and those supporting disabled students) Framework : None listed N/A Meng et al (2018) Name : ISee Target : Depression Type : Mobile sensing and a Mobile app Stage : Prototype Duration : N/A • Co-design workshop Process : Participatory design workshop with clinicians and students Framework : None listed N/A Gulliver et al (2015) Name : UniVirtual Clinic (understanding privacy needs) Target : Mental health Type : Mobile app Stage : Prototype Duration : N/A • Focus group • Prototype testing Process : Focus groups with students and iterative prototype testing sessions with students Framework : None listed N/A Farrer et al, (2015) Name : UniVirtual Clinic (end-user needs) Target : Mental health Type : Mobile app Stage : Prototype Duration : N/A • Focus group Process : Focus groups with students Framework : None listed N/A Farrer et al, (2020) Name : UniVirtual Clinic Target : Mental health Type : Web-based platform Stage : Developed, not tested in a pilot Duration : N/A • Focus group • Literature review • User survey • Prototype testing Process : Participatory design with young people, university stakeholders and other service providers Frame...…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Online mental health interventions designed for students in higher education: A user-centered perspective

Oti

Pitt

2021

Internet Interventions

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Background Digital mental health interventions have been posited as a way of reducing the burden on mental health services in higher education institutions. However, low adherence and high attrition rates present a challenge that limits the effectiveness of these interventions. User-centered design has been proposed as a suitable approach in improving the adherence of users to these interventions. Objective The objective of this scoping review was to examine digital mental health interventions that have been designed specifically for students in higher education. It aimed to summarize the published literature on digital mental health interventions which take a user-centered approach in developing interventions for students in higher education. Methods A scoping review of peer-reviewed research papers from the following electronic databases was conducted: Embase, ACM digital library, Web of Science, IEEE Explore, SCOPUS, EBSCO Host (including APA PyscInfo, CINAHL PLUS, APA PsycArticles, Medline), PubMed and Google Scholar. Databases were searched from inception until 13 Jan and 14 Jan 2021. Of the 755 articles that were identified, 57 articles were selected for full review. 34 articles were excluded for not matching the inclusion criteria. Results 23 studies were included in this review. The included interventions targeted various areas of mental health including depression, anxiety, overall wellbeing, and mental health awareness. The interventions were commonly delivered through mobile apps, web-based apps, and desktop apps. In addition, we explore design methodologies applied in the development of the interventions: we note significant stakeholder engagement in the studies, the inclusion of multiple stakeholder types (students, health care professionals, university staff, and young people in the general population), and limited use of design frameworks. Finally, in exploring user engagement, attrition rates and user acceptance, we find that most of the studies have not progressed enough (i.e., at pilot/prototype stages of development) to determine the impact of design methodologies on the success of these interventions. Conclusion Our review revealed a need for further research on the impact of user-centered design practices on the success of digital mental health interventions in this population. Further, we provide recommendations that researchers/designers in this field of research should take into consideration when designing online mental health interventions for students in higher education. Some of the recommendations include: add personalization; improve user interfaces; take adequate steps to ensure anonymity/privacy/security; include peer engagement; and include access to mental health professionals.

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“…This pressure arises from various stressors related to academic demands. The evidence by various reports from world health associations such as the National College Health Assessment Association in the United States states that more than 58% of students in the United States find it difficult and pressured by academic demands [4]. Firstyear students from various European countries, such as Germany, Poland, and Bulgaria, experience high academic stress related to future academic demands [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Analysis of Solution Focused Brief Counseling Contribution in Reducing First-Year Students Academic Stress Symptoms

Ardi¹,

Daharnis²,

Neviyarni³

et al. 2021

Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research

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Various contributing factors influence the success of the learning process. Stress is one of the big problems experienced by students, especially first-year students. Students in the first year who live separately from parents tend to experience stress resulting in stressful conditions. Life changes to career decisions in the form of majors will also affect students' stress levels. Furthermore, these stress conditions are also compounded by changes in educational patterns at the educational level. An approach considered capable of being a strategic step in reducing these conditions is Solution Focused Brief Counseling (SFBC). This approach can help clients strengthen self-autonomy, strengthen thinking that focuses on solutions, formulating responsibilities, develop independence, increase self-control, and increase clients' quality of positive resources. This research aims to analyze the contribution of SFBC in reducing the academic stress conditions of first-year students. This study involved five students with high academic stress levels using the Student Academic Stress Scale (SASS). The research results show that SFBC is effective in reducing the academic stress level of first-year students.

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Development of the Uni Virtual Clinic: an online programme for improving the mental health of university students

Cited by 9 publications

References 31 publications

Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Student Wellbeing at Universities in the United Kingdom: A Conceptual Analysis

Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Student Wellbeing at Universities in the United Kingdom: A Conceptual Analysis

Online mental health interventions designed for students in higher education: A user-centered perspective

The Analysis of Solution Focused Brief Counseling Contribution in Reducing First-Year Students Academic Stress Symptoms

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