Solution:

          The purpose of the ACHA-National College Health Assessment is to help college health service providers, educators, and administrators by collecting data about their students’ habits, behaviors, and perception on prevalent health topics. With this information and experience as students ourselves, I along with the Mental Health Special Interest Group of the Changing Carolina Peer Leaders meet weekly to create campus events that educate students on important mental health topics and on-campus resources we feel will serve our student body well. While our programming reaches a wide range of students from events throughout campus and presentations given to freshman enrolled in our campus's University 101 classes in the fall, there is still a large percent of students that we do not meet who can benefit our organization’s resources. Whether a freshman being away from home or an upperclassman living off-campus, loneliness is prevalent among college students and lead to negative physical and mental health consequences. Therefore, providing a stable mental health oriented support system with students and UofSC faculty is crucial for developing a student’s understanding of their mental wellness. 

 

Detailed Plan:

          One way for people to be an advocate for their mental wellbeing is through frequent mental health check-ins. Whether these check-ins are done individually or with others, they help reflect on where we are emotionally in that current moment and help guide subsequent course of action such as seeking professional help or implementing positive adjustments to our daily lives. Another type of check-in that is done at UofSC is where students are required to meet with their assigned faculty advisor once a semester to discuss academics and classes for the upcoming semester. All students at UofSC have a hold on their student account that prevents them from registering for classes until they have this meeting. Since a student meets with their advisor at least once during the semester, and often during the most hectic time of the semester with midterms and finals around the corner, my plan suggests that this semesterly appointment can serve as a mental health check-in for students. As a result, this check-in can foster a on-campus faculty-student support system that extends beyond academics itself throughout the student’s career at UofSC while also normalizing self-reflection that can better student mental health outcomes.

 

1. Implement a brief stress and depression questionnaire.

          During the Fall 2020 semester, UofSC’s Center for Health and Well-Being offered a new Interactive Screening Program through the campus's Counseling and Psychiatry Services. The program provides a brief, confidential Stress and Depression Questionnaire that students can fill out with their assigned university User ID to identify how stress, anxiety, depression, or other challenges are affecting their academic, social, and personal functioning. After the online survey is complete, one of UofSC's certified counselors reviews the questionnaire and sends a personalized message through the student's campus health portal with suggestions based off the student’s answers that include resource recommendations and the opportunity to schedule a follow-up appointment to discuss on and off-campus resource options. As of right now, completing the questionnaire and scheduling a follow-up appointment is completely voluntary but is available for students of all backgrounds to access at any time.

 

2. Gain consent from college deans and academic advisors who would like to participate in sending out the Stress and Depression Questionnaire to students and making the survey's completion a requirement along with the semesterly advisement appointment to lift academic registration holds.

          Adding the Stress and Depression Questionnaire as a requirement to complete before an advisement appointment to lift academic registration holds ensures that students partake in an opportunity to check in on their mental health and have an entrusted faulty member to confide in during their time at UofSC. Advisors will be offered comprehensive training on available campus resources, how students can register for campus resources, and how to effectively facilitate conversations regarding mental health and stress management. The hopes are that by a student completing a minimum of 6 surveys, one per semester, at different times during a student’s academic career, the surveys will serve as a prevention platform to allow students to normalize prioritizing and engaging in conversations centered around their mental health while forming a stable on-campus support system.

 

3. Implement a follow-up survey with students and advisors during the year to collect data on what is the most helpful and what can be changed.

          When students are sent an email from their advisor to make an advising appointment for the upcoming semester, they will also be sent a link to the Stress and Depression Questionnaire from the Counseling and Psychiatry Services. Students will be notified that the survey should be completed before the advising appointment at the earliest convenience as part of the requirement to lift their academic registration hold. From here, the advisors help create a trusting faculty-student support system by providing a safe space to open up discussion during and after their appointment if the student would like to discuss further any challenges they are facing or questions about the recommended resources. The advisors will not have access to the students results but will be held accountable for initiating the conversation and empathetically listening to the student to show that they are not alone.

          After two semesters of implementing this plan, a voluntary survey will be emailed to upperclassman students to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of adding the Stress and Depression Questionnaire to the academic advising requirement. The survey would include attitudes on the content and feedback of the Stress and Depression Questionnaire, satisfaction with communication efforts and support from advisors regarding their mental health, understanding of how to personally identify feelings that impact their daily functioning, knowledge of on-campus resources, and willingness to seek help or make positive adjustments after completing the survey and advisement appointment. Long-term evaluation will involve analyzing trends of student responses in UofSC’s National College Health Assessment given each spring semester of odd years along with the usage of UofSC’s mental health resources to see if the check-ins improve student mental health behaviors.  

 

Sources:

Advanced Solutions International, I. (n.d.). Publications and Reports: ACHA-NCHA II. Retrieved from                                           https://www.acha.org/NCHA/ACHANCHA_Data/Publications_and_Reports/NCHA/Data/Reports_ACHA- 

             NCHAIIc.aspx.