It is generally reported that around one in 10 children in the UK today suffer from some kind of mental health problem. It is of course compulsory for all children between the ages of five and 16 to partake in a certain amount of education, which in the vast majority of cases means school. Head teachers are statutorily obliged to safeguard the children in their care, which also means addressing their physical and mental health. Therefore schools are growing in their importance as sites of mental health care interventions. There is little or no published research which explores the phenomenon of on site mental health provision from the perspective of the head teachers, in terms of how it impacts them. For this study, five head teachers of mixed sex primary schools were interviewed about the mental health service that they had commissioned for their school. All five participants employed the same service. Using the interpretive phenomenological approach to analyse these interviews, five major themes were discovered: ambivalence towards the mental health service; mixed feelings towards mental health issues; that the mental health service helped alleviate heads’ sense of anxiety; the paradoxical nature of head teachers’ intersubjective experience; and that while head teachers like to describe themselves as part of a collective identity, they locate themselves as individuals when they feel the need to assert power. It is hoped that these findings might aid providers of mental health services to schools and children by providing a more sophisticated understanding both of head teachers’, and therefore commissioners’, anxieties and positive feelings about such services.

The Depressive Experiences Questionnaire Dependency scale has been used extensively by researchers to measure a personality style vulnerable to depression. However, subsequent studies have demonstrated that the DEQ-Dependency is composed of two distinct forms of dependency, "Connectedness" and "Neediness", which may have different implications for mental health. While Connectedness may represent a more mature form of dependency than Neediness, it may not represent an entirely "healthy" form of relatedness as previously suggested. Although these scales are being used in current research, it is not yet clear what they represent. One goal of the present study was to further examine the construct validity of Connectedness and Neediness in order to differentiate these constructs. Gender, self-efficacy, relationship quality, and interpersonal behavior were chosen because of their proposed significance in differentiating forms of dependency. 265 undergraduates completed the DEQ, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Mutual Psychological Development Questionnaire (MPDQ), and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP). Overall, results supported the importance of distinguishing between these two factors of dependency. Neediness was associated with more maladaptive correlates for both genders. The picture is more complex for Connectedness, however, and it appears that Connectedness is less healthy for women than for men.

Emerging adulthood is a term coined to recognize 18 to 25 year-olds who engage in self-exploration while not yet fully identifying as adults. Many emerging adult college students experience stress, anxiety, and depression. Although many colleges provide affordable and available mental health resources for students, many students who need help appear to not utilize these services. Gaining greater understanding of underlying processes that influence psychological treatment-seeking behavior is imperative. The current study sought to explore the role experiential avoidance (EA) plays as a treatment-seeking barrier in the context of emerging adulthood. Undergraduate students completed online measures of emerging adulthood dimensions, psychological symptoms, EA, self-stigma of, perceived public stigma of, intentions to, and attitudes and beliefs towards seeking treatment, treatment seeking behavior, and a demographics questionnaire. Binomial hierarchical logistic regressions and correlational analyses examined the relationship of EA and treatment-seeking behaviors, accounting for known barriers and emerging adult characteristics. After controlling for demographic variables, results indicated that EA was significantly positively correlated with self-stigma (r = .187), p < .001), perceived public stigma (r = .178, p < .001), intentions (r - .207, p < .001), psychological symptoms (r = .713, p < .001), and attitudes and beliefs (r = .009, p = .003). These and other findings are discussed further, along with the study limitations and implications, as well as possible future directions for work in this area.

The subject of drug and alcohol abuse on college campuses across the country is the concern of many college administrators. There exists a relatively high consumption pattern of drug and alcohol abuse among college students when compared to the general population. This pattern of alcohol abuse has remained stable despite the presence of substance abuse programs on campuses that are specifically targeted toward the student population. There exists little research on how these programs operate and how they address the problem of substance abuse on campuses. Most of the research that exists is of survey design. This study examined through a descriptive case study, the substance abuse programs in three public universities in Oregon. The study used descriptive case study to describe what components comprised the programs as well as how the programs functioned under the various organizational structures. Three organizational structures were identified. The first university's organizational structure was under the health center, both administratively and physically. The second university studied had part of the program under the counseling center and other components under the athletic department and the health center. The third university had what was termed as a de-centralized structure, with the treatment component under the health center, the prevention component under an academic department, and the peer education component under the health center. The various organizational structures were also examined for their influence on the respective program. The 1989 Drug-Free Schools and Campuses Act Amendment, required institutions of higher education receiving federal funds to have programs. The impact of the Act on both the program and the organizational structure of the program was also examined. The study demonstrated an impact of the legislation on the programs in the form of funding that made possible new services. The study also suggested an influence of the organizational structure on the programs in the form of the funding of new program components that changed the organizational structure. Implications for programming as well as research as a result of this study's findings are presented. Recommendations for program models are also presented. / Graduation date: 1994

Stress is an important feature of the lives of college students and can impact negatively on learning. The effectiveness of an in-class stress management intervention for improving course content retention was tested with a cross-over design in two introductory graduate biostatistics classes. Each class met one day per week for the duration of the semester, and was taught by the same instructor, following the same syllabus. A pretest duplicating items on the midterm and final exam was administered to all students at the first class meeting. Identical midterm and final exams were administered in both classes. During the first half of the semester, each class session in one section was preceded by a ten minute deep breathing stress management procedure (n = 30). During the second half of the semester this procedure was discontinued in the first section and implemented in the other section (n = 10). There were no significant differences by age, citizenship, or gender between the two sections of the course. Based on the statistical analyses between the two groups the study did not give a clear answer if stress management was effective in improving learning.

The objective of this study is to examine whether the effects of stress on University of KwaZulu Natal first year students’ well being depend on the level of perceived social support. First year students are faced with the challenges of leaving the comfort of their homes in search for education and experience that enhance their growth. This life transition can be a stressful experience that requires social support from other people in order for the student to enjoy a healthy wellbeing. Methods; One hundred and fifty survey packages, which comprised of four measures: The Demographic Survey, The Multidimensional Scale of Perceives Social Support, The Perceived Stress Scale and The WHO (five) Wellbeing Index were distributed. Ninety three (62%) survey packages were anonymously completed and returned by the participants. Hypotheses; Four hypotheses were tested in this study: Whether the level of perceived social support will moderate the effects of stress on wellbeing of university students; whether females will perceive themselves to have more social support as compared with male students; whether younger students will perceive themselves to have more social support than their older counterparts. And lastly to find out whether students who live at home with their family perceive themselves to have more social support as compared to those that live away from their families, either in on-campus accommodation or renting accommodation alone or with other students. Results; The results obtained indicate that the level of perceived social support moderates the effect of stress on students’ wellbeing. The second hypothesis was also supported on the basis that females perceived themselves to have more social support than their male counterparts. The third hypothesis which sought to find out whether students who live at home with their family perceived themselves to have more social support as compared to those that live away from their families, either on on-campus accommodation or renting out a flat alone or with other students has not been clearly confirmed, therefore is an implication for further research. Lastly, the results do not indicate that younger students perceive themselves to have more social support than their older counterparts. Conclusions; It is evident that social support plays a very important role in the life of a first year student, as it assists them in moderating the effects of stress on their wellbeing. The availability and the way that individual perceive social support depends on the gender of an individual. Key words: Perceived Stress; Perceived Social Support; General Wellbeing; Moderating effect; First Year University Students. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

This study was designed to better understand psychological support services available and desired for students and group leaders of study abroad experiences. It was hypothesized that study abroad group leaders 1) would witness psychological distress among their students and 2) would not have an action plan addressing psychological distress while abroad. The participants consisted of thirty-seven faculty and staff members who led a study abroad excursion in the past five years at a mid-sized, public university in the Midwest. Each participant answered an online needs assessment comprised of questions regarding demographics, trip logistics, and mental health concerns. The results indicated that nearly 50% of all study abroad trip leaders reported a student with a mental health issue and 75% of these group leaders believed that the students either did not have access to mental health services or only had medical assistance available. Limitations and recommendations for future studies are reported. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between religious commitment, spiritual well-being and psychological well-being in college students. The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) and Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS) were administered. Also frequency of church attendance was assessed. Canonical Analysis was used to investigate the data from 425 participants to determine if there is relationship between religious/spiritual well-being and psychological well-being. A statistically significant relationship was found between religious/spiritual well-being and psychological well-being. The following describes the nature of the relationship. First, participants who experience existential well-being tend to be self-accepting and to a lesser extent have mastery of their environment and a purpose in life. Second, participants who experience existential well-being and to a lesser degree, religious well-being tend to accept themselves, have a purpose in life, possess mastery of their environment, positively relate to others, feel they are growing personally, and are autonomous. This study provided evidence of a relationship between religious/spiritual well-being and psychological well-being. Implications and limitations of the study, as well as recommendations for future research are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

The study explored the links between 31 sources of stress, as per the Student Stress Scale, and gender, level of study, race and social class, as well as the relationship between stress and health. Two-hundred–and-five (205) undergraduate and post-graduate students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus, participated in the study. The results showed that there were five significant differences in sources of stress between male and female students, six significant differences between undergraduate and post-graduate students, nine significant differences between black students and students of other races and three significant differences between students of different socio-economic statuses. Furthermore, there were no significant relationships found between stress and overall health and anxiety; however, significant relationships were found between stress and depression, bodily pain and flu/cold. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

There is a significant gap between the numbers of college students who experience a diagnosable psychological problem and those who seek psychological treatment for these problems. One explanation for this gap may be that many college students may be unaware of free mental health services available at the university counseling center on campus. Thus, use of these resources is not a viable option. These concerns were addressed in the current study via a posttest-only experimental design by creating a video in line with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1985; 1991) and assessing its effects on college students attitudes towards psychological help seeking (PHS), subjective norms associated with PHS, perceived behavioral control over PHS, and PHS intentions. Mixed support was found for the video’s impact on TPB variables in a PHS context. In addition, the utility of the TPB model for explaining PHS in college students was examined. Based on model fit statistics the TPB adequately explained PHS in college students, but only after modifications were made to the measurement model. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services