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More than a year into the pandemic, incoming college students are mentally and physically exhausted.
As incoming college students take their first “face-to-face” classes, many are excited to start a new era and feel the ravages of the challenges created by the pandemic. According to preliminary results of the Annual Student Participation Survey for New College Students (BCSSE), students are exhausted and have increased mental health problems. The study was applied to about 50 thousand new students from May to September 2021. Of the participants, more than 50% answered that they feel mentally and physically exhausted, 30% suffer from depression, 27% feel more Alone, another 27% feel unable to concentrate, and 20% feel desperate.
Almost a year and a half after a pandemic and changes in normalcy, it was to be expected that these types of problems would arise, especially since access to support on mental health issues was also affected. Another survey focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of 18,764 American college students. Of these, 41.8% responded that they had sought support but, of this percentage, 60.1% said that getting help is something or much more complicated. On the other hand, 69% of the students said that their institution’s administration gave them service, but their professors received the most support (78%).
The Jed Foundation produced a guide on how to address mental health and wellness on campus. According to the Foundation, in addition to worrying about a face-to-face return without risk of contagion, it is necessary to address mental and emotional well-being issues. In this sense, the main thing is strategic planning. To ensure students’ success, well-being, and safety, an organization must ensure that everyone has equal opportunities and does not exclude minorities. This process should include faculty, staff, and families as they have been through the same challenges as students, suggests the foundation.
Because each institution is different, the Jed Foundation recommends conducting surveys, having focus groups, or any other measure to collect data to find out what the students are thinking, the educational personnel, and the needs of the entire academic community. After you have a good data collection and strategies are created, it is important to plan how to communicate with the community in a clear and relevant way. Students, their families, and teaching staff are bombarded with constantly changing updates and information, so tell them the Punctual and timely manner is very important. According to the Jed Foundation, doing so will improve the community’s confidence in the institutions’ processes and decisions.
Another valuable strategy is to focus on life skills as these help students cope with the stressors of the pandemic, make decisions, build resilience, and achieve academic success. Offer programs focused on social connections, empathy, pain processing, stress management, mindfulness, and include faculty and administrative staff resources. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), for example, created a comprehensive resource page for dealing with stress. In addition, it is essential to remember that many students probably lost someone close to COVID-19, so it is advisable to offer support groups, programs, and other services focused on grief.
Feelings of loneliness have been exacerbated by physical distancing over the past year and a half, so promoting social connection and creating community is key. The Jed Foundation recommends promoting peer support programs whenever possible and encouraging student activism to foster relationships and collaborations among students themselves. Universities must work with their students to ensure appropriate support and structures to express themselves on this last point. Providing various supportive resources, such as student forums or groups, is critical to allowing them to process your activism.
On the other hand, people who work in universities are often the only connection a student will have, especially if their education is entirely online. Hence, it is essential to have training and education programs for the faculty. The Jed Foundation also recommends promoting resources for families to recognize the warning signs in youth with mental health problems to respond and refer students to the support they need. In addition, they advise having up-to-date information on their main websites, not just in wellness or counseling centers. They also suggest including emotional wellness in campus health services, for example, within the COVID-19 screening tools, including questions about how they feel emotionally and not just if they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive. These questions will provide valuable data on the challenges students face, help plan how best to meet their needs, and serve as a resource for students to reflect on their mental health. As mentioned above, 60% of the students surveyed report that the pandemic increased the difficulty in caring for their mental health. Campuses may consider creating mental health newsletters or campaigns to disseminate their resources and make them more accessible. The University of Pittsburgh Counseling Center website is an excellent example of showing all the services available. For its part, Tec de Monterrey created the “Tqueremos” program that focuses on the comprehensive well-being of students, providing emotional, social, financial, occupational, spiritual, intellectual, physical, and social support.
To make mental health care resources more comprehensive and effective, the Jed Foundation recommends increasing support staff, staff diversity reflecting the student population, flexibility in treatment approaches, and off-campus providers offering complementary services or specialized. On the other hand, the foundation insists on considering teachers within these programs so they can also process their experiences and trauma regarding the pandemic’s impact while supporting students’ needs. Lastly, the foundation advises having a clear and accessible emergency protocol to guide the community. Providing emergency information such as crisis phone numbers, chat, or text services is also helpful. The information provided by the university must be clear so that it is easy for the university community to find these resources and can share them with their peers and colleagues. Universities must also be prepared with information and protocols on what to do if a student dies. Knowing how to recognize, respond to, and refer students with mental health problems and suicidal tendencies can help prevent crises.
The annual student engagement survey for incoming college students reports that students remain optimistic, despite being emotionally drained. Now that more universities are resuming face-to-face classes or using hybrid models, it is essential to prioritize the community’s mental health, planning the best way to support students, faculty, families, and the community. Has the pandemic affected you emotionally? Are you feeling more exhausted? Do you think your university has good resources on mental health? Do you know them? Leave your comments below.
Translation by Daniel Wetta.
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This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
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