Reports

The Student Mental Health Scoping Highlights Report was created by the Oxford Academic Health Science Network. The report summarizes findings from a qualitative study exploring strengths and gaps in current service delivery for post-secondary students within a localized area with multiple universities. Though there are effective services and programs in place, there are gaps including access barriers, lack of communication between care providers, and lack of clarity between the roles of healthcare organizations and the universities in the area. The report presents several recommendations to improve mental health supports for students in the region.

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations released a report summarizing results from a survey of post-secondary students from across Canada on the experiences and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic for this population, including mental health and wellbeing. Key findings from the report are the heightened sense of worry post-secondary students are experiencing on a range of factors including loss of income, value of online education, access to online learning, academic supports, and the threat of COVID-19 on physical health. The effectives of the pandemic are felt differently across this population. Specifically, women, visible minority students, and students living without roommates are more likely to be affected by the pandemic.

The North American Observatory on Health Systems and Policies conducted a rapid scoping review of the literature on post-secondary institutions’ (PSI) initiatives for student mental health and wellbeing, in addition to government and public policy to support PSIs. The review describes current initiatives and government supports in both Canada and other select countries, ranging from campus psychoeducation courses to government mental health strategies. The review summarizes promising initiatives and describes key recommendations to improve PSI mental health on Canadian campuses, including incorporating mental health promotion into all components of post-secondary institutions, use and evaluation of best practices, adoption of technology to improve access, creating strategic partnerships, and mental health literacy training.

This report conducted by a research team at Queen’s University, highlights common themes regarding post-secondary mental health across Canadian campuses. The report summarizes findings from a national survey of students and reviews commonalities across the academic literature and institutional policies on mental health. The report demonstrates that many of the same themes can be seen across Canadian campuses and that there is a lack of awareness about existing effective interventions to support campus mental health.