Live

Interventions that create a social and physical environment promoting good mental health. Such interventions are often for the whole population though they can easily be targeted to certain student demographics. 

This includes interventions that have an effect on: 

• Promoting a mentally healthy environment proactively  
• Social integration and belonging
• Residential Accommodation
• Physical Environment

Examples of these interventions include: 

• Psychoeducational workshops and trainings
• Peer support and buddying programmes
• Yoga, mindfulness and other wellbeing activities
• Support systems in accommodation settings
• Developing green spaces and social spaces
• Workspace redesigns with good lighting and ventilation

Interventions in the Live domain recognise that social context has an impact on wellbeing and mental health. This approach moves away from a deficit model of mental health by implementing interventions that set better foundations for good mental health. They often work preventatively and proactively, building environments and communities that support the day-to-day life of a student. 

Many of these interventions work by reducing the risks of negative experience of university, such as stress and isolation. For example, psychoeducational workshops encourage positive mental health practices that become useful in reducing stress levels at difficult times such as exam periods. Equally, peer support programmes help to increase a sense of belonging and thereby reduce the risks of social isolation, anxiety and depression. (Hughes and Spanner, 2019, pp. 51-52).

Research shows that there is some causal evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of these interventions but the majority of studies have a mixed impact. This means that there is a combination of studies with significant and non-significant results, whether positive or negative. Due to the small sample sizes and the fact that the majority of the studies were done outside of the UK, we can only say that there is weak evidence to support the effectiveness of these interventions.

The role of social context can be hard to measure as it is hard to isolate particular factors in complex systems. The existing literature only includes studies on interventions that proactively promote a mentally healthy environment or interventions that improve social integration and belonging.

Some randomised control trials (Nikoozadeh, 2020; Oman, 2008; Anderson et al., 2017) have shown that stress management or mindfulness courses teach skills and techniques that help to mitigate stress. Quantitative studies (Aboody, et al., 2020; Anderson et al., 2017; Antika, et al., 2020) on interventions targeted to particular courses such as medical students demonstrate a higher impact on building resilience in students. 

We also found studies that show that creative interventions such as poetry groups (Mohammadian et al., 2011) lower anxiety and depression. In addition, peer support groups targeted towards specific demographics can improve learner autonomy (Atkinson et al., 2012).

Currently, we don’t have enough evidence on the efficacy of these programmes to make statements about which features are important.

For more guidance, please see the Mental Health Charter under the “Live” domain. Other examples of interventions of this type can be found in our case studies [LINK TBC].

There is a lack of evidence of any sort on the impact of residential accommodation support systems or of interventions that make changes to the physical environment. Changes to social structures, communities and physical environments take time to take effect and therefore more longitudinal data is needed. 

Though there is some evidence, there is a lack of strong causal evidence on interventions that proactively promote a mentally healthy environment or interventions that improve social integration and belonging. This means that studies done with larger sample sizes in UK universities are needed to inform the effectiveness of these interventions.

The majority of studies (9/10) in the existing literature are from outside the UK.

Causal Studies

Aboody, D., Siev, J. and Doron, G. (2020). Building resilience to body image triggers using brief cognitive training on a mobile application: A randomized controlled trial. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 134, p.103723.

Anderson, G. S., Vaughan, A. D., & Mills, S. (2017). Building personal resilience in paramedic students. Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being, 2(2), 51–54. 

Antika, E. R., Mulawarman, M., and Mawadah, Z., (2020). Applying Mind-Skills Training to Improve Academic Hardiness on Guidance and Counseling Students with Academic Burnout. 2nd International Seminar on Guidance and Counseling 2019  89–92.

Mohammadian, Y., Shahidi, S., Mahaki, B., Mohammadi, A.Z., Baghban, A.A. and Zayeri, F., 2011. Evaluating the use of poetry to reduce signs of depression, anxiety and stress in Iranian female students. The arts in psychotherapy, 38(1), pp.59-63.

Nikoozadeh, E.K., 2020. Effectiveness of Hardiness Training Intervention on Students’ Perceived Stress and Psychological Hardiness. International Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences, 7(2), pp.58-66.

Oman, D., Shapiro, S.L., Thoresen, C.E., Plante, T.G. and Flinders, T., 2008. Meditation lowers stress and supports forgiveness among college students: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of american college health, 56(5), pp.569-578.

Other Studies

Atkinson, R., Gandy, C., Graham, C., Hendrickx, S., Jackson, V., Martin, N., & Rainford, L. (2012). Aspects of social interaction and buddy scheme – Supporting transition and progression for students identified with Asperger Syndrome (AS). The Journal of Inclusive Practice in Further and Higher Education, 3, 109–124

Ball, S. and Bax, A. (2002). Self-care in Medical Education. Academic Medicine, 77(9), pp.911–917.

Information and Guidance

Hughes, G. & Spanner, L. (2019). The University Mental Health Charter. Leeds: Student Minds