Developing a SSPH+ Initiative for Students' Mental Health
At a glance
- Project leader : Prof. Dr. Julia Dratva
- Project team : Prof. Emiliano Albanese, Prof. Dr. Georg Bauer, Dr. Annina Zysset
- Project status : ongoing
- Funding partner : Third party (Stiftung Swiss School of Public Health plus SSPH+)
- Project partner : Università della Svizzera italiana, Universität Zürich / University of Zurich, Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Prevention Institute EBPI
- Contact person : Julia Dratva
Description
Background
Mental health is best conceived as a public good worth investing in for sustainable development. Already before 2020, prevalence studies estimated that in youth aged 25 years or less up to 1 in 5 would have experienced some kind of mental health disorders, psychological distress, or both. Moreover, recent data and models from the global burden of disease studies (GBD) indicate that a third of the overall burden of mental disorders (according, for example, to DALYs) concentrates in the age-group 15 to 24 yrs. The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated this situation and put a spotlight on mental health, particularly in young people. The topic students’ mental health was first raised bottom-up by SSPH+ students and faculty in the Academic Board of IGC. Follow-up meetings led to the plenary and workshop at the SSPH+ 2024 retreat and the development of a inter-university project on mental health in (PhD-)students. The project will enable a deeper inter-university collaboration regarding students’ mental health at SSPH+ universities.
Objectives
The aim of the project is to further develop a Student Mental Health initiative and joint research activities.
Results
By the end of this project, we will have defined:
- The overall scope of the SSPH+ mental health initiative:
- Data needs/joint survey items/instrument
- Mapping of existing interventions in Switzerland and beyond for the above target groups