BY: SIMRAN PUREWAL, GURMAN SHERGILL, ARLENE LIU, AND WEITING  YE

OVERVIEW OF TOPIC – MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING: POST-SECONDARY STUDENTS IN CANADA

DESCRIPTION
Post-secondary students are a high risk demographic for developing mental health issues (Giamos et al., 2017). Transitioning to a postsecondary institution is stressful and failing to reach personal goals or academic expectations can result in common mental health disorders such as anxiety or depression. These conditions may have a negative impact on their academic performance, acts of daily living, along with their general well-being, both physical and mental. A General Health Questionnaire found that nearly one-third of Canadian undergraduate students reported elevated psychological distress levels (Adlaf et al., 2005, as cited in Giamos et al., 2017). Further, data from six Ontario postsecondary institutions found that an estimated 80% of university students felt overwhelmed or exhausted, however only 15.4% of students seeked treatment (ACHA-NCHA II, 2009, as cited in Giamos et al., 2017).

A lack of education regarding identifying mental health issues, coping strategies, and campus counseling services can act as barriers for receiving mental health support. The biggest problem when it comes to seeking help is that the stigma of mental illness can silence students and deter them from reaching out (Eisenberg et al., 2009, as cited in Giamos et al., 2017). Campus culture plays a main role in whether students can actively deal with psychological problems, thus a culture with a low tolerance for negative preconceptions and low stigma of mental health issues will support students (Giovannetti et al., 2018). Overall, it is crucial to educate all individuals on this topic as stereotypes of mental health disorders negatively perpetuate the stigma attached to mental illness.

MISCONCEPTIONS
1. Many tend to believe mental illness is not a medical condition as it may not always produce physical symptoms. However, mental health issues are real and can be debilitating. Similar to other conditions, mental illnesses need to be taken seriously and cannot be solved by “taking a walk”.

2. Those who have not experienced mental health adversities usually believe they are caused by weak willpower or an inherent flaw of the individual. This is not the case as mental health is very complicated and can be affected by a multitude of variables including one’s environment and genetics.

RATIONALE
After brainstorming our topic, we came to the conclusion that we would like to create a learning resource that could be useful in the long-run. As university students ourselves, we have dealt with ups and downs in our mental health and would like to support our fellow peers. Post-secondary students are disproportionally affected by mental health issues, therefore educating ourselves and others on how to recognize the signs and symptoms of poor mental health along with how to promote well-being is a crucial first step to alleviate this prominent issue.

LEARNING DESIGN PLAN

CORE CONCEPT #1 – MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES: UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Importance
Post-secondary institutions are environments that bring about many stressors, academic pressures, and social changes. Thus, mental health issues may be triggered or exacerbated. Education about mental health can increase awareness and equip students with the knowledge to recognize early warning signs in order to improve students’ overall well-being. Further, mental health education helps promote a supportive post-secondary culture by decreasing the stigma of mental illness.

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand the umbrella term “mental health” and what it encompasses
  • Provide a definition for what it means to have positive mental health
  • Identify common mental health disorders in post-secondary students in Canada along with their signs, symptoms, and warning signs
  • Understand common myths and misconceptions associated with mental health and disorders
  • Be able to describe factors influencing mental health: biological, social, and environmental
  • Recognize the impact of mental health on academic performance

Example of Teachable Content
Common Mental Health Disorder #1 – Anxiety:
Anxiety disorders affect an individual’s daily life. There are several forms of anxiety (i.e. social anxiety, separation anxiety, panic disorder, and more which we will cover), however one of the most common symptoms is overwhelming fear or uneasiness (World Health Organization, 2023). Other symptoms may interfere in one’s decision-making, affect concentration, or cause insomnia. Contributions to anxiety can result from a wide variety of social, biological, or psychological factors. Anxiety is a complex condition and each phase of life can have moments of increased vulnerability to anxiety. It is prevalent in post-secondary students due to the many social and environmental stressors such as living away from home, increased course load, and a poor work-life balance (Silva et al., 2020). In the final learning resource, we will dive deeper into what anxiety looks like and feels like, along with how to effectively manage it.

CORE CONCEPT #2 – PROMOTING MENTAL WELL-BEING IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Importance
Promoting mental well-being in post-secondary students is essential for academic success and overall health. Effective promotion involves learning coping strategies and self-care techniques. Students who are mentally healthy, are more motivated and engaged in their work. Additionally, many individuals are often uneducated about how to support friends or peers with poor mental health. Thus, learning about the promotion of mental well-being will equip individuals with a toolkit to deal with adverse conditions.

Learning Outcomes

  • Provide a list of effective strategies to promote mental well-being and choose appropriate self-care practices given specific conditions
  • Identify the mental health services available on campus and how to access resources
  • Recall steps to take when supporting a friend or peer in distress
  • Identify barriers to mental health care 
  • Understand how to empower others or oneself to recognize when one should seek help

Example of Teachable Content
Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention:
Manitoba Health (2014) outlines various strategies for identifying those at risk of suicide and preventative steps. It is crucial to focus on overall positive mental health by enhancing the strengths, abilities, resilience, and resources of individuals. In the final learning resource, we will dive deeper into cues to help identify those at risk of suicide and specific suicide prevention strategies

LEARNING ACTIVITIES/ASSESSMENT PLAN

From Week 1, the ‘behaviourist learning theory’ was used to develop the framework for this resource. As this theory believes reinforcement and feedback are the two crucial factors for success in learners, the learning activities incorporated into this resource will allow for formative assessment followed by summative assessment at the end of a section. As we complete our research for approaches to learning environments in Blog #2, we will implement the approach that best aligns with our topic.

WEEKLY BLOGS (30%)

  • Completion marks
  • Answer one of the provided prompts related to the material; 500 words
  • Learners should show their interaction with the material learnt and will have the opportunity to comment on their peers posts as well

MINI QUIZZES (UNMARKED)

  • At the end of each section (for example: mental health stereotypes, anxiety, depression, or mental well-being), a mini quiz will serve as a recap and provide feedback to the learner about their level of understanding and/or material they may need to relook at
  • 10 – 15 multiple choice questions
  • Feedback: correct or incorrect answer
  • Unlimited attempts

TESTS (20%)

  • After a core topic is finished, a larger version of the mini quizzes will be issued in the form of a test – multiple choice and definitions/matching
  • These will build on and incorporate some questions from the mini quizzes
  • 2 attempts allowed and will need to achieve at least a passing grade (50%) to proceed to the next section

CASE STUDY (20%)

  • Case studies are a great way to improve problem-solving skills and team work
  • Learners will attempt to solve a case study for a given mental health disorder including identifying signs and symptoms, noting specific behaviors, and correctly identifying the mental health disorder

MENTAL HEALTH DISORDER REPORT (15%)

  • In this short report, learners are responsible for selecting one disorder to research. 500-750 words.
  • Information should include: How the disorder presents, prevalence rates, signs and symptoms
  • Open format: Powerpoint, Word doc, Infographic, etc.

PROMOTING MENTAL WELL-BEING PRESENTATION (15%)

  • Provide a rationale for best strategy to promote mental well-being
  • Should be supported by peer-reviewed sources
  • 5 minutes

RESOURCES

As we complete the Interactive Learning Resource, we will build on the resources needed. However, we believe we will utilize open access textbooks for information regarding specific mental health disorders, scholarly articles accessible through post-secondary institutional libraries in order to research effective strategies to promote well-being, and grey literature in order to illustrate how mental health plays a role in everyday life. Technology tools will include a quiz software such as SurveyMonkey, programs that will allow collaboration between group members such as Google Docs or Etherpad, and a platform to submit completed assignments/administer tests.

PROJECT PLAN

During the process of completing the blueprint, we utilized Brightspace and email in order to communicate quickly, met over zoom to clarify roles and expectations, and collaborated over Google Docs.

BLUEPRINT:

Arlene: Responsible for topic overview
Simran: Responsible for core concept #1, final edits, and blog submission
Gurman: Responsible for core concept #1
Weiting: Responsible for core concept #2

FINAL INTERACTIVE LEARNING RESOURCE:

Arlene: Responsible for topic overview
Simran: Responsible for core concept #1, creating and integrating learning activities/assessments, and final edits
Gurman: Responsible for core concept #1 and creating learning activities/assessments
Weiting: Responsible for core concept #2 and creating learning activities/assessments
As a group: How to determine learner’s final standing in relation to the outcome and plans for designing for the inclusion of diverse learners using UDL and CAST principles

REFERENCES

Giamos, D., Lee, A. Y. S., Suleiman, A., Stuart, H., & Chen, S. -P. (2017). Understanding campus culture and student coping strategies for mental health issues in five canadian colleges and universities. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 47(3), 120-135.

Giovannetti, S. L., Robertson, J. R. G., Colquhoun, H. L., & Malachowski, C. K. (2018). Mental health services for canadian university students – athletes: An exploratory survey. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 13(3), 469-485. https://doi.org/10.1123/jcsp.2018-0048

Manitoba Health. (2014). Best practices in school-based suicide prevention. Canadian Electronic Library. https://canadacommons-ca.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/artifacts/1227369/best-practices-in-school-based-suicide-prevention/1780440/

Silva, M. L., Rocha, R. S. B., Buheji, M., Jahrami, H., & Cunha, K. C. (2020). A systematic review of the prevalence of anxiety symptoms during coronavirus epidemics. Journal of Health Psychology, 26(1), 115-125. https://doi.org/10.1177/135910532095162

World Health Organization. (2023, September 27). Anxiety disorders. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/anxiety-disorders