Stress Testing the University Fall Break Policy: Understanding the Impact on Student Mental Health

Abstract

Attempting to support student mental health, many Canadian universities have implemented a fall break with the assumption it would be helpful in alleviating students’ stress and anxiety. However, there is no baseline data regarding stress level or mental illness burden of students to understand its effectiveness. Using case study methodology with mixed methods, this research sought to appraise, given a lack of baseline data, the impact of a fall break on student mental health. While the surveys revealed that students overwhelmingly liked the break and perceived it to reduce their school related stress, the focus groups revealed key insights into understanding stress and coping among university students about how students like to de-stress that have practical implications for any policy aimed at promoting students’ mental wellness. This research offers practical policy suggestions to help post-secondary institutions determine whether a fall break week can be effective in addressing students’ stress and anxiety.

How do changes to policies, systems, and environments in universities affect mental health and wellbeing? A systematic mixed studies review

“…While this indicates that a university-wide fall break policy does not improve students' mental health and wellbeing, the absence of control groups and the use of between-subjects analysis urge caution. The remaining quantitatively-oriented study found no significant changes (Pilato, et al, 2022).…”

“…The 18 studies included one randomised controlled trial (RCT; Damião Neto, et al, 2020), five quasi-experimental (Ahmad, et al, 2017;Dyrbye, et al, 2017;Maynor, et al, 2022;Mc Sharry & Timmins, 2016;Poole, et al, 2018), three qualitative (Agnew, et al, 2019;Bosse, et al, 2021;McArthur, et al, 2021), and nine mixed-methods (Culver, et al, 2021;Dewa, et al, 2020;Gan, et al, 2022;Johnson, et al, 2019;Litchke, et al, 2020;Pilato, et al, 2022;Poole, et al, 2017;Wang & Du, 2020;Whiteside, et al, 2017).…”

“…Where qualitative data were collected, students reported that the break helped them to de-stress, rest, and restore: "it was life-saving important because the week before and the week after was packed with assignments and midterms, and I was lacking so much sleep" (Agnew, et al, 2019, p. 47). However, there was also pressure to be continually productiveeven throughout the break -leading to feelings of guilt: "as I'm watching a TV show I feel guilty because I feel I should be doing something else, because how I [prioritise] it is student, staff, and then self" (Pilato, et al, 2022). Moreover, two issues -study load and assessment scheduling -lingered and intensified despite the fall break: "the week before the break every single thing was due, every midterm, it was the worst week.…”

Policy Implementation in Higher Education: The Dynamics of a Fall Break

“…In the end, while the fall break policy was brought forth as a recommendation by USAC, it was Senate's decision whether to maintain the break and how to implement it. Consequently, these implementation barriers (Howlett et al, 2009) ultimately had an impact on students' perceptions of the effectiveness of the break (Pilato et al, 2021b).…”

“…Consequently, evidence-based decisions are important to implementation success or failure and should be considered as part of the evaluation process (Howlett et al, 2009). As the policy naturally progresses so can decision makers change, students change and campus climate can change with a new shifting focus on mental wellness initiatives, over time, new implementation issues may arise and so implementation will need to progress with policy changes (Pilato et al, 2021a(Pilato et al, , 2021b.…”