JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In line with the Healthy Universities and Health Promoting Universities principles, higher education institutions must be health-promoting environments in order to contribute to the mental health of their communities. Despite this recognition, studies have highlighted the precariousness of mental health among students in higher education. Research is needed to better understand student mental health issues and how to address them. Knowledge mobilization strategies must also be deployed to ensure that research findings have practical impacts on HEIs.

Objective:

The Observatory on Student Mental Health in Higher Education (OSMHHE) is a network of over 320 members and collaborators across Quebec (Canada) and elsewhere. Its mission: to develop, promote and disseminate knowledge to foster and maintain a culture that supports the mental health of students in Quebec’s higher education system. This article describes the OSMHHE’S research protocol, funded by the Fonds de recherche du QuĂ©bec, designed to generate meaningful and measurable impacts on student mental health.

Methods:

This research protocol consists of three components: 1) establishing a portrait of students' mental health and its determinants; 2) identifying and evaluating a variety of mental health-related practices; 3) assessing the implementation and impacts of the Observatory as a knowledge mobilization infrastructure. The first component adopts a quantitative approach, while the other two employ a mixed-method approach.

Results:

This project is funded from February 2023 to February 2028. The first OSMHHE periodic provincial survey took place in November 2024. Data was collected from 77 higher education institutions and 32,790 students. The analysis is underway, and the final report will be released in November 2025. It will provide portraits of the mental health status of students in higher education in Quebec, in terms of both well-being and mental health difficulties and disorders. Identifying the determinants of mental health will enable us to better guide HEIs in implementing practices or measures to improve mental health. Moreover, around 20 student mental health practices are currently being evaluated. Analyses are underway, and evaluation reports will be published starting in 2026. These practices are evaluated in terms of their impacts, as well as the conditions under which they were implemented, sustained, and scaled up. Evaluating their impacts will help advance knowledge on the effectiveness of these practices for the mental health of students. It is also essential for identifying promising practices that can be scaled up. Finally, evaluating the implementation of the OSMHHE infrastructure in 2026 will help advance knowledge about the effects that these infrastructures can produce.

Conclusions:

OSMHHE projects are expected to have applications that extend well beyond the traditional scientific outputs. We want these results to enhance students’ mental health and to foster a culture and communities that promote student mental health in higher education.