Survey to first-term students about physical and mental health

International project about student mental health

– We continue to recruit students who will be followed up for the entire duration of their studies, says Anne H. Berman, Professor at the Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, who is leading the national project together with Associate Professor Claes Andersson at Malmö University and a guest researcher at Uppsala University. Currently, 14 Swedish institutions of higher education are participating in the project.

The purpose of the survey study is to identify students with mental health problems and to offer them participation in a treatment study on internet-based interventions for depression and anxiety, in the semester following their response to the first survey invitation. Everyone who responds to the survey receives information on help resources in the community and via student mental health services at their university or college.

– Through annual surveys and follow-ups in each of the participating countries, we hope to develop and disseminate evidence-based methods and digital interventions that can contribute to improved mental health among our students. It is extremely important to gain more knowledge on student health, both physical and mental. This is part of our project and this is how we can contribute new knowledge about students in Sweden.

International project with Harvard as a base

This international project began in 2012 under the mantle of the World Health Organization (WHO): World Mental Health International College Student Initiative (WMH-ICS). The global project is led by Professor Ronald C. Kessler, an internationally well-known and highly accomplished scholar in Health Care Policy at Harvard University, USA. The project is currently being implemented in 18 countries around the world, including Europe, Australasia, the Middle East and North and South America. The project is an extension of a larger World Mental Health (WMH) project that has been mapping mental health problems since 2000 all over the world, with 30 participating countries.

Sweden joined the project in 2019 and about half of the students studying in Sweden are reached by survey invitations. At each university or college, the project is carried out in close collaboration with student mental health services, student unions and university leadership.

– We will be sending out an invitation to participate in the survey within a few days to students at your university or college, who are in their first term in educational programs. We are eager for your students to participate and contribute locally as well as globally to improve mental health among students in higher education, says Anne H Berman.