The Creation of a Mental Health Policy in Higher Education

The mental wellness of university students can be critical for their success. In an attempt to minimize stress for students, many universities have implemented a policy for a fall break with limited evidence to support its intended outcomes. This case study offers a critical appraisal of the formati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEducational policy (Los Altos, Calif.) Vol. 36; no. 7; pp. 1821 - 1849
Main Authors Pilato, Kelly A., Law, Madelyn P., Narushima, Miya, Moore, Shannon A., Hay, John A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.11.2022
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Case studies
College Students
Education policy
Educational Policy
Foreign Countries
Health education
Higher Education
Mental Health
Mental health policy
Policy Formation
Program Implementation
School Policy
Uniformity
Wellness
Canada
higher education
fall break
mental health
policy creation
policy
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Summary:The mental wellness of university students can be critical for their success. In an attempt to minimize stress for students, many universities have implemented a policy for a fall break with limited evidence to support its intended outcomes. This case study offers a critical appraisal of the formation of the fall break policy at one medium sized comprehensive university using qualitative and quantitative forms of evidence triangulated from (1) University Student Union survey, (2) document analysis and; (3) informant interview. The lack of uniformity on how the fall break is labelled, the timing of the break and its evaluation emerged as design flaws in the creation stage that perhaps, could have been mitigated if faculty and student voices were included in policy creation decisions.
ISSN:0895-9048
1552-3896
DOI:10.1177/08959048211015613