Mental Health and Wellbeing Promotion in Teaching and Learning for Dental Students in Australian Universities: A Scoping Review

INTRODUCTION: Current policy, frameworks and governance for the mental health and wellbeing of dental students in Australian universities require examination to support the development of settings-based mental health promotion and prevention strategies in dental education in Australia. This paper explores the current knowledge in providing mental health and wellbeing promotion in teaching and learning for dental students in Australian universities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Databases (Medline, CINAHL, ProQuest, A + Education, PsycInfo, Scopus, DOSS and Web of Science) and search engines (Google and Google Scholar) were searched for relevant, Australian-focused documents using a comprehensive search strategy. The reference lists of included studies were searched. RESULTS: Thirty sources met the inclusion criteria. Data analysis used an inductive approach to create a coding framework. The data was grouped into five key themes: legislation and standards; policy, frameworks and reports; university framework or strategy; primary research; and facilitators and barriers. CONCLUSIONS: Mental health and wellbeing promotion in teaching and learning in dental students is influenced by existing frameworks, policy and governance and clinical education and pedagogies. A settings-based approach should be combined with individual strategies, utilising identified facilitators, to improve dental students' mental health and wellbeing. Gaps in legislation, consideration of stakeholder concerns, implementation of university mental health frameworks or strategy, accessibility to university evaluation data and methodology to incorporate mental health and wellbeing promotion into teaching and learning highlight further areas for research. Mental health and wellbeing promotion in teaching and learning for dental students is under-researched and under-evaluated in Australia and requires further research to support the mental health and wellbeing of this cohort.