Research Topic Title: A whole university approach to student mental health support and investigation of key social and educational factors linked to student wellbeing
Student mental health is an area of growing concern in higher education nationally and internationally. Universities and colleges are environments where both targeted and universally applied population health measures can have a significant impact on young people’s mental health and wellbeing, and consequently their futures. To date there is an absence of evidence for effective low-intensity student wellbeing support models. My PhD was the first study of its kind to evaluate the impact of an innovative change in student welfare provision at a large UK university. I used mixed methodology – harnessing thousands of survey responses, five years of health and administrative data, and more than 40 hours of staff and student focus groups and interviews. This fellowship will allow me to publish and disseminate those doctoral findings to a broad audience of researchers, practitioners and policymakers. My future research ambitions are to build on this work, examining longitudinal academic outcomes such as course drop-out and attainment in relation to mental wellbeing and student characteristics, including educational and social factors e.g., disability, socio-economic status and ethnicity. The fellowship also provides an opportunity for me to strengthen my relationships with social scientists, public health experts and HE providers across the sector and explore the possibility of a future, multi-site, student wellbeing study across the UK. Greater understanding of potential predictors of student mental wellbeing and academic outcomes is vital for directing institutional (and NHS) resource, addressing inequalities, and maximising positive outcomes for students.
Mentors: Professors Rona Campbell and Claire Haworth
Publications:
Bennett, J., Heron, J., Kidger, J., & Linton, M. J. (2023). Investigating Change in Student Financial Stress at a UK University: Multi-Year Survey Analysis across a Global Pandemic and Recession. Education Sciences, 13(12), 1175.https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13121175
Heron, P., Balloo, K., Barkham, M., Bennett, J., Berry, C., Dutta, S., Edwards, L., Ward, J., Gardani, M., Hosein, A., Byrom, N., Foster, J., Bewick, B., Knowles, L., Kumar, S., Linton, M-J., McLafferty, M., Lucock, M., McMillan, D., … Broglia, E. (2023). Measuring psychological wellbeing and mental health in university student cohorts. Kings College London Research Portal. https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/207843124/ Broglia_McMillan_Heron_cohort_study_core_outcome_set.pdf
Bennett, J., Heron, J., Gunnell, D., Purdy, S., & Linton, M. J. (2022). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student mental health and wellbeing in UK university students: a multiyear cross-sectional analysis. Journal of Mental Health, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2022.2091766
Linton, M. J., Biddle, L., Bennett, J., Gunnell, D., Purdy, S., & Kidger, J. (2022). Barriers to students opting-in to universities notifying emergency contacts when serious mental
health concerns emerge: A UK mixed methods analysis of policy preferences. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 7, 100289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2021.100289
Contact Details:
E-mail: jacks.bennett@bristol.ac.uk
LinkedIn: Jacks Bennett
X (Twitter): @jacksbennett
Website / Blog: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/jacks-bennett