An analysis of the practitioner response to student mental health and wellbeing in Higher Education, through a case study of university careers advisers

Murdoch, Linda Elizabeth (2024) An analysis of the practitioner response to student mental health and wellbeing in Higher Education, through a case study of university careers advisers. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the possible alterations that university careers advisers have made to their non-therapeutic practice in order to accommodate changes in student mental health and wellbeing. Firstly, a critical analysis of the relevant literature and policy documents was conducted. This involved an examination of the ways that social, economic, and particularly educational developments have not only changed the student experience of Higher Education, but also the historical evolution of university careers guidance itself. Secondly, the researcher conducted qualitative interviews with 16 experienced university careers advisers that were designed to capture their views of how their practice had developed to accommodate changes in student mental health and wellbeing over the past 5-10 years or more. Through combining key insights from the critical analysis of the relevant literature and policy documents with others that were gleaned from the views of practitioners in the field, evidence is provided for a need to review not only university careers advisers training and practice but also the strategy with which UK Higher Education as a whole supports student mental health and wellbeing. More pointedly, it is concluded that this policy itself may be partly responsible for the marked increase in the numbers of students reporting emotional distress and therefore fuelling the problem it was set up to prevent. Furthermore, as these changes in student behaviour had compelled careers advisers to use their own initiative to gain therapeutic based training in order to continue to support students, this also implied that universities had failed in their duty of care to them.

The study’s contribution to knowledge in the field concerns how changes in the way that UK universities support student mental health and wellbeing have had different effects from those intended. These unplanned outcomes have not only impacted changes in how students experience Higher Education, but also how careers advisers work with them in one-to-one careers guidance appointments.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology; L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Supervisor's Name: Deeley, Professor Susan and Reid, Dr. Kate
• Date of Award: 2024
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2024-84164
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 27 Mar 2024 10:04
• Last Modified: 27 Mar 2024 10:06
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.84164
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/84164