Are you feeling stressed? Looking after the mental health of health students: Resources to raise self-awareness and signpost health students to sources of self help and support

Students undertaking health programmes within higher education institutions are exposed to a range of challenging experiences during their course. These may come from clinical placements and/or the theory components. The aim of this project was to develop resources designed to; explain the potential challenges that these students might experience, raise self-awareness of the impact of undertaking a professional health programme, highlight methods of self-help when dealing with these challenges and promote the professional support services available to them. Staff and students from a health faculty at a university in the United Kingdom participated in this study. Interviews and surveys were used to collect information surrounding students mental health. Results showed that 62% of personal tutors reported they had identified deteriorating mental health in their students. It is important to recognise that this deteriorating mental health was not limited to students with a pre-existing mental health diagnosis. In addition, over 50% of students reported experiencing mental ill health during their programme. Despite 79% of students knowing about the support available to them, only 27% had accessed this. In conclusion, we developed 3 resources (a sketch animation, infographic and pocket-sized cards) to help support the mental health of students on health programmes.