Students’ perspectives on mental health promotion in student life – Finding me and a place to belong

Abstract

Background: Student years are a crucial time of development and a time in life characterized by major transitions, in which youths are detached from the well-known childhood environment, family, and childhood friends. Research on students and mental health promotion is scarce, and there is a need to investigate what promotes mental health in student life. Aims: The overall aim of this thesis was to explore how students experience student life as promoting mental health. This overall aim was further categorized into three specific aims: I: To explore how first-year students in university perceive student life as promoting mental health and well-being (I) II: To describe students’ lived experiences of how student life promoted mental health and wellbeing in everyday life under various degrees of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic (II) III: To describe students’ experiences of student life that are beneficial to mental health (III) Methods: A qualitative design was used in all three studies. Data were collected from a total of 32 interviews (I, II) and 171 written descriptions (III). Twenty interviews were analysed using phenomenography, 12 interviews were analysed using phenomenology, and 171 descriptions were analysed using thematic analysis. Data were collected at the university (I), via Microsoft Teams (II) and via submission on a web page (III). Main findings: Having a sense of belonging, a sense of support, and a sense of finding myself were regarded as crucial to promoting mental health in student life (I). The ways in which these needs were fulfilled varied. Support could be provided by family or peers; it could be emotional, financial, or practical. Support could also be provided by the academic community. Being taken seriously by lecturers and other academic staff was regarded as a form of support for one’s development into a mature self (I, III). A sense of belonging could best be achieved through the facilitation of and participation in small groups in both social and academic contexts (I). Experiences such as being welcomed, being included, belonging to a social group, finding one’s own identity, maturing, and developing were all highlighted in the descriptions (III). Student societies and other forms of civic engagement as well as acceptance by and inclusion in an academic community were fundamental in this context. During lockdown, the promotion of mental health was described as finding a balance between predictability and joy (II). Conclusions: A mentally healthy student life is a contributing factor to one’s ability to find one’s own identity and is therefore important. Promoting mental health in student life is a joint responsibility. Students are recommended to be active and take initiative. In addition, the university and cooperating partners can facilitate the establishment of new networks by organizing small groups that lower the threshold required for making new acquaintances and by organizing study programmes in a way that eases the developmental process underlying the establishment of a new everyday life and the discovery of one’s own identity.