Randstad 2023 Student Mental Health Report

Now in its fifth year, the ‘Student Mental Health and Well-being Report’ - Download the report produced by Randstad is an interesting set of data for a number of reasons including that the 1195 respondents are all disabled, using Disabled Students Allowances (DSA) or their University or College equivalent funded support or outsourced services for counselling and wellbeing support.  Let's delve into the unique composition and characteristics of these respondents to better understand the context of the study.

survey respondents and their characteristics.

Survey respondents this year have a 70/23/7 split between Female/Male/Non-binary in terms of gender identity and reflect responses from one-third in their first year, one-third in their second year and one-third in their third, fourth, fifth year or later. Half of the respondents shared they have a diagnosed mental health difficulty, nearly half are 26 years old or over; all receive support via Randstad.

With all the expected caveats, including that this is a survey, not a study, the responses are interesting, especially in giving further insights on which of the student communities universities and colleges may wish to focus their limited resources on. 

[Spoiler alert, non-binary, other LGBTQ+ students and first-year students with social anxiety responding to the survey are most likely to be considering dropping out].

A recent systematic review published in September 2022 on ‘Factors that influence the mental health of university and college students in the UK’ identified several factors that increased the risk of poor mental health and behaviours associated with poor mental health. These were:

• Trauma in childhood
• Students that identify as LGBTQ+
• Students with Autism
• Students not engaged in learning and leisure activities
• Students with poor mental health literacy

Factors that promoted good well-being and students more likely to experience better mental health include:

• Students who developed or were developing strong and supportive social networks. 
• Students who are prepared and able to adjust to the changes that moving into higher education presents.

impact of socioeconomic factors and the current student cohort.

There are glimpses of all these elements in the survey responses this year (and in previous years) albeit alongside the compounding impact of the ‘cost of living crisis’ which was the only additional question area added to the core questions repeatedly asked over previous years. 

For example, almost 60% of students identified ‘Academic Stress’ as having the biggest negative impact on their mental health followed jointly by ‘Financial Pressures’ and ‘Rising Living Costs’ with ‘Health Conditions’ being the final category of adverse impact. 

The latter may well be due to the chronic underfunding of the health service, long-covid or in relation to the austerity impact on services that once promoted ‘protective’ or ‘proactive’ services. 

It’s worth remembering that during the last decade just as access to university was greatly expanded in the UK, spending on public services was slashed. In the decade after the financial crash (of 2008), day-to-day spending on public services as a share of GDP was at its lowest since the late 1930s. 

This was experienced as severe cuts to local authorities, school budgets and NHS mental health provision. In 2016 the Centre for Mental Health noted, “On average, children and young people with mental health difficulties go ten years between first becoming unwell and getting any help, according to our evidence review”.

Figures published in November 2017 showed that two-thirds of under-18s referred for specialist mental healthcare in England were not receiving treatment, while there had been a 30% fall in hospital beds available for acute mental health conditions since 2009. 

This brings us to this current cohort who have had to navigate these issues and who are more likely to have lower mental health literacy and trauma in childhood. This is in part due to cuts to preventative programmes such as ‘sure start’ and those who arrive at University with a need to access help and support (possibly viably for the first time) for their mental health difficulties. 

the role of universities and colleges and the focus on non-binary students.

Whilst universities and colleges can’t offer treatment, they do offer mentoring and study support, financial advice and financial literacy development. Attending university can be a protective factor against worsening mental health (vs non-students of similar background) by fostering social and learning networks as well as providing meaning and purpose.

So, the focus on the current cohort, for student support services, teaching and learning, residential and employability teams should include an emphasis on non-binary students in particular who within this survey make up a significant proportion reporting they have declining mental health; of the 30% of all responses, 10% are non-binary. Non-binary responders are also a disproportionately large group (49% of the 40% reporting) considering or have considered leaving. 

promoting mental health awareness and support.

Normalising the mental health challenges that students are likely to encounter is an important priority for most universities whose marketing materials and promotional messages may historically be less focussed on the adverse impacts of the student experience in terms of academic and financial challenges. Promoting, not just the presence and flexibility of services, but what services are used and useful for is now more important than ever. 

The possibility of online as well as face-to-face mental health and well-being support should be highlighted to students. Although there has been some student demand reverting to face-to-face support (42% indicate a preference for f2f as opposed to 21% during lockdown era responses) highlighting what the support can help with rather than just availability is key. 

Given LGBTQ+ students are overrepresented in the survey as considering dropping out, broader resources including the Student Minds, Student Space website should be promoted including the ‘Free online workshops for LGBTQ+ students and their allies and the additional support options listed under the ‘Support Services’ menu that provide access to phone, email, webchat and text message support.

Insights into the benefits of using disabled student support from this survey are a good reflection opportunity for anyone involved in student support alongside TASO project reports, Blackbullion’s, ‘Student Money and Wellbeing’ outputs, student podcasts via SMaRteN and DSUK’s resources. 

Download our latest report!