University student mental health projects

• Associate Professor
  Melissa Russell

  melissar@unimelb.edu.au
  03 83440736

Project Details

University student mental health is a concern around the globe and the problem currently appears to to be worsening. The goal of this collection of projects is to investigate the causes of these issues and to identify activities and interventions that prevent these issues arising. The work conducted so far has predominately been undertaken within the Toward a Health Promoting University cohort study, that investigated the health and wellbeing of 14,880 students. Sub-studies have included an investigation of the effect of university assessment design on student mental health and the effect of curriculum design on student mental health. Other studies have included studies of the mental health service use across different student cohorts, the effect of social support, failing subjects, financial issues and culture shock on mental health.

Researchers

Associate Professor Melissa Russell

Beauty Tebaa

Collaborators

The University of Melbourne Department of General Practice

The BUPA Foundation

LaTrobe University

Funding

BUPA Foundation

University of Melbourne Gem Scott Fellowship

School of Population and Global Health Funding

Research Opportunities

This research project is available to PhD students, Masters by Research, Honours students, Post Doctor Researchers to join as part of their thesis.
Please contact the Research Group Leader to discuss your options.

Research Publications

Russell MA, Reavley N, Williams I, Li W, Tarzia L, Chondros P, Sanci L. Changes in mental health across the COVID-19 pandemic for local and international university students in Australia: a cohort study. BMC Psychol. 2023 Feb 28;11(1):55. doi: 10.1186/s40359-023-01075-9. PMID: 36855196; PMCID: PMC9973240.

Ke T, Li W, Sanci L, Reavley N, Williams I, Russell MA. The mental health of international university students from China during the COVID-19 pandemic and the protective effect of social support: A longitudinal study. J Affect Disord. 2023 May 1;328:13-21. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.02.014. Epub 2023 Feb 7. PMID: 36758874; PMCID: PMC9902340.

Sanci L, Williams I, Russell M, Chondros P, Duncan AM, Tarzia L, Peter D, Lim MSY, Tomyn A, Minas H. Towards a health promoting university: descriptive findings on health, wellbeing and academic performance amongst university students in Australia. BMC Public Health. 2022 Dec 27;22(1):2430. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-14690-9. PMID: 36575509; PMCID: PMC9792939.