Promoting the Mental Health of University Students in China: Protocol for Contextual Assessment to Inform Intervention Design and Adaptation

• Published in: JMIR research protocols 2021-05, Vol.10 (5), p.e25009
• Main Authors: Wong, Josephine Pui-Hing, Jia, Cun-Xian, Vahabi, Mandana, Liu, Jenny Jing Wen, Li, Alan Tai-Wai, Cong, Xiaofeng, Poon, Maurice Kwong-Lai, Yamada, Janet, Ning, Xuan, Gao, Jianguo, Cheng, Shengli, Sun, Guoxiao, Wang, Xinting, Fung, Kenneth Po-Lun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation; Anxiety; Collaboration; College campuses; Empowerment; Health education; Health literacy; Health services; Interdisciplinary aspects; Intervention; Knowledge; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental health; Mental health care; Prevention; Protocol; Stigma; University students
• ISSN: 1929-0748; 1929-0748
• DOI: 10.2196/25009

Chinese students are extremely vulnerable to developing mental illness. The stigma associated with mental illness presents a barrier to seeking help for their mental health. The Linking Hearts-Linking Youth and 'Xin' (hearts) project is an implementation science project that seeks to reduce mental illness stigma and promote the mental health of university students in Jinan, China. The Linking Hearts project consists of 3 components. In this paper, we outline the protocol for the first component, that is, the contextual assessment and analysis of the mental health needs of university students as the first step to inform the adaptation of an evidence-based intervention to be implemented in Jinan, China. Six local universities will participate in the Linking Hearts project. A total of 100 students from each university (n=600) will engage in the contextual assessment through self-report surveys on depression, anxiety, stress, mental health knowledge, and mental health stigma. Quantitative data will be analyzed using several descriptive and inferential analyses via SPSS. A small number of participants (144 students and 144 service providers) will also be engaged in focus groups to assess the socio-environmental contexts of university students' health and availability of mental health resources. Qualitative data will be transcribed verbatim and NVivo will be used for data management. Social network analysis will also be performed using EgoNet. Linking Hearts was funded in January 2018 for 5 years. The protocol of Linking Hearts and its 3 components was approved by the research ethics boards of all participating institutions in China in November 2018. Canadian institutions that gave approval were Ryerson University (REB2018-455) in January 2019, University of Alberta (Pro00089364), York University (e2019-162) in May 2019, and University of Toronto (RIS37724) in August 2019. Data collection took place upon ethics approval and was completed in January 2020. A total of 600 students were surveyed. An additional 147 students and 138 service providers took part in focus groups. Data analysis is ongoing. Results will be published in 2021. Findings from this contextual assessment and analysis will generate new knowledge on university students' mental health status, mental health knowledge, and resources available for them. These findings will be used to adapt and refine the Acceptance and Commitment to Empowerment-Linking Youth N' Xin intervention model. The results of t