‘Look after the staff and they would look after the students’ cultures of wellbeing and mental health in the university setting

Leigh Spanner,Gareth Hughes,Emma Jones,Susan J Wilbraham,Liz Brewster,Michael Priestley

doi:10.1080/0309877x.2021.1986473

Abstract

ABSTRACT University student wellbeing is increasingly seen as a concern, and as demands on university staff time for research, teaching, leadership and pastoral support also increase, this is mirrored in concerns about staff wellbeing. Dominant sectoral narratives frame student and staff wellbeing as oppositional, with initiatives to support student wellbeing positioned as creating additional practical and emotional demands on staff time and resources. Using a large qualitative dataset collected in the UK, including staff and students, this paper argues that that this does not have to be the case. Instead, there is a need to look beyond the provision of reactive services or isolated individual interventions, to proactively and cohesively embed cultural and structural change across the whole institution to support positive wellbeing outcomes for the whole university community. We report on the intrinsic interconnection between staff and student wellbeing; the importance of formal institutional policies in supporting or impeding staff and student wellbeing; access to training interventions to support staff and student wellbeing as a practical manifestation of these policies; and the impact of workplace culture and the centrality of compassion and community. The paper finds that it is important that institutions within higher education acknowledge and respond proactively to both staff and student wellbeing issues. To do so, institutions should seek to foster a sustainable and effective academic environment with a whole university approach.

Highlights

Student wellbeing is an established concern across the UK university sector
The above method highlighted four main themes, namely: the intrinsic interrelationship and interconnection between staff and student wellbeing; the importance of formal institutional policies in supporting or impeding staff and student wellbeing; access to training interventions to support staff and student wellbeing as a practical manifestation of these policies; the impact of workplace culture and the centrality of compassion and community
Staff wellbeing as integral to student wellbeing. Both student support and academic staff frequently referred to the practical and emotional demands on their workload and wellbeing created by the responsibility for supporting student wellbeing

Summary

Introduction

Student wellbeing is an established concern across the UK university sector. This paper presents qualitative data collected in 2019 which explored student and staff perspectives on university life and mental health, to consider the intrinsic interconnection between staff and student wellbeing.Evidence indicates that students are reporting increasing levels of psychological distress, with growing demand for university counselling services (Broglia, Millings, and Barkham 2017; Thorley 2017; Storrie, Ahern, and Tuckett 2010). Student wellbeing is an established concern across the UK university sector. This paper presents qualitative data collected in 2019 which explored student and staff perspectives on university life and mental health, to consider the intrinsic interconnection between staff and student wellbeing. Evidence indicates that students are reporting increasing levels of psychological distress, with growing demand for university counselling services (Broglia, Millings, and Barkham 2017; Thorley 2017; Storrie, Ahern, and Tuckett 2010). Individual, social, academic, and financial factors have all been suggested as contributing to student distress, including isolation and loneliness (McIntyre et al 2018; Richardson, Elliott, and Roberts 2015); academic transitions and anxieties (Jones et al 2020); financial difficulties and uncertainties (McCloud and Bann 2019; Richardson et al 2017).

Methods

Results

Conclusion