Aims

This module is designed for undergraduate students across all programs and aims to improve students' understanding of the determinants of mental health and well-being. Students will gain knowledge about what influences mental health, how to promote wellbeing and how to seek help. At the end of the course students will be equipped with a knowledge and understanding of mental health and well-being in the context of being a student and will be able to reflect on their own personal mental health and well-being needs. It is aimed that upon completion of the course students will be able to implement healthy choices that support well-being and resilience in their own lives which will be advantageous as they continue through university.

Outline Of Syllabus

In this module, students will learn about the emergent adult brain, genetic and psychosocial contributors to mental health, exposures common to university life which can detract from well-being, as well as actionable habits and healthy choices that can help individuals succeed both academically and personally. Topics to be covered include:

Introduction to the science of well-being, mental health and resiliency
The three S’s: Stress, sleep and self-regulation
Alcohol, recreational drugs, and mental health
Study-life balance, recreation, and well-being
Mental health awareness: Prevention, early recognition, and support
Translation of knowledge around student well-being, mental health and resiliency

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

An in-person introductory module will take place before the release of the online materials to introduce the module staff members and to outline and explain the module and assessment.

Lectures are provided as online self-paced material split into 6 individual modules that are released every two weeks. The online modules will be complemented by workshops delivered in person.

Online modules will impart information and discuss relevant concepts and will include in-depth slides as well as videos and audio descriptions to provide full explanations of certain topics and concepts. Links to relevant studies and further reading within the subject area are also included in each module for students to engage with as part of their independent guided study. The information provided in the online modules will ensure students reach the knowledge outcomes and will help students obtain an understanding of what influences mental health, how to promote wellbeing and how to seek help.

To supplement the lecture materials, in-person workshops will allow active discussion and reflection on the topics covered in the online modules. The demonstrator led sessions will provide a safe space for personal reflection of the students own mental health and well-being and help to create plans moving forward based on these reflections. Activities within the workshop will also entail group work for students to develop their collaborative working skills and encourage them to negotiate and build relationships with others. Activities set within the workshops, along with the activities included in the online lecture materials, will equip the students with the skills to be able to reflect on the information covered in the online modules and to implement healthy choices that support well-being and resilience in the students’ own lives.

The guided independent study time and reflective learning activities will allow students to carry out in depth review of the information imparted through lecture materials, to consolidate their learning and generate their own views that can be shared with others during in-person workshops and within their reflective log.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The purpose of the wellbeing plan is for students to reflect on their learning in relation to their own personal wellbeing, or in relation to the wellbeing of others. Through application of the wellbeing wheel provided in the module content, the wellbeing plan will help students identify areas of their wellbeing that require improvement and reflect on their learning to provide different strategies for improvement in these areas. The plan will help to implement their new knowledge and understanding of wellbeing within their own lives. Students will be supported with creating their wellbeing plan in the workshops. The marking for the assessment will be pass/fail.

The formative assessment includes completion of surveys to help to evaluate the module and understand the impact the module can have on an individual. Measures include PHQ-9, GAD-7, Warwick and Edinburgh Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS – short version), UCLA loneliness, Academic connectedness scale. The students will be asked to complete the measures in the first and last in-person workshops.

If the module is failed or deferred students will resit failed or deferred assessments in the same format during the August resit period.