Shelving stress: a pilot study of a tool to support student preventive mental health and focus in higher education

Purpose With recent studies showing that over 30% of tertiary students report stress or anxiety negatively affecting their academic performance (American College Health Association, 2026), faculty staff are encouraged to contribute to student well-being but are ill-prepared to do so. This study aims to introduce a lecturer-led, scalable intervention, “The Shelving Tool,” to help address this. Design/methodology/approach This is a mixed methodology, single-group study with a pre-post design. A lecturer-led classroom-based intervention was delivered weekly over three months to 60 students. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale was used to measure well-being, and participants completed post-intervention open-ended surveys regarding the usefulness of the intervention. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings The results of this study show that 88% of students found the tool helpful, and 82% are using or are considering using it in other areas of their lives. Kessler scores improved slightly over the period. Originality/value This pilot study found that this faculty-led in-person skills-based intervention may be a time-effective way of improving student mental health and academic focus in higher education. Further evidence is needed to confirm the effectiveness of the tool. The tool may also increase lecturer-student rapport and enhance the learning environment.