JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Over 30% of university students from 8 countries were afflicted with mental distress according to a WHO survey. Undergraduate students in increasing numbers in China have also been reported to suffer from different mental problems. Various psychological distresses significantly impacted their academic and daily life, thereby causing role impairments and unsatisfactory academic achievements. While the prevalence of, diverse underlying factors for, and intervention of social support in college students’ mental health have extensively been investigated in China, there is no literature exclusively on the interventions in their psychological well-being.

Objective:

This paper aimed to review the extant literature to identify and synthesize the interventions in the mental health of Chinese college students studying in China, to inform educational authorities, college and university managements, students’ affairs counselors, and mental health practitioners.

Methods:

To analyze and synthesize the interventions in the mental health of Chinese college students studying in China, we performed a systematic review and reported the research findings of previous studies according to the protocol of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 statement. First, based on the predefined search strategy, a keyword search was conducted in the databases of PubMed and ProQuest to retrieve relevant studies. Subsequently, we screened the candidate articles based on the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, we analyzed the included papers for qualitative synthesis.

Results:

We retrieved a total of 675 studies from the PubMed and ProQuest databases using the search strategy. Among these candidate studies, 15 that were not written in English, 76 duplicates, and 149 other document types of studies were removed before screening. Then, 313 studies were excluded in the screening process, and 73 articles were ruled out for being not relevant to interventions, not on mental health, or not for college students in the full-text review. As a result, 49 papers were eligible and included in this systematic review. In the qualitative synthesis, we found it necessary to review this topic systematically, considering the deteriorating mental health of Chinese college students, especially in the context of the COVID-19 resurgences. We divided all the interventions reported in the selected studies into two categories: (i) social support from government authorities, university authorities, students’ affairs counselors and teachers, family members, health-care authorities and professionals, and the media (various online platforms) and (ii) various coping strategies adopted by college students themselves. We identified further research on mental health interventions through digital medical platforms, chatbots, and researchers.

Conclusions:

This was the first systematic review of the interventions in the mental health of Chinese college students studying in China. The categorization of reported interventions and the identification of new interventions channels can effectively inform intervention players and those interested in this topic. The intervention in college students' mental health and that of the general public is a research topic deserving further investigating.