Summary:
Background Switzerland’s student population is at a particularly high risk of developing mental health disorders, creating a major challenge for Switzerland’s higher education establishments. Research to date has primarily sought to identify the risk factors afecting students’ mental health; however, their exposure to these factors is often unavoid? able. Thus, the present study adopted a salutogenic approach focussing on the determinants of health. We examined the mental health resources available to students reported in the literature as being susceptible to helping them maintain good mental health despite their exposure to risk factors. Methods In February 2020, 2,415 frst- and second-year bachelor’s degree students in applied sciences in Frenchspeaking Switzerland completed an online questionnaire. The variables measured were self-evaluated mental health, perceived stress and three potential health resources: students’ feelings of self-efcacy, their capacity for mindfulness and their social support. The results were analysed using hierarchical linear regression models. Results When all the variables were included in the model without interaction efect, our results revealed that stu? dents’ self-evaluated mental health was negatively associated with perceived stress (β= -0.43, p<0.001) and positively associated with the three potential health resources (self-efcacy: β=0.26, p<0.001; mindfulness: β=0.10, p<0.001; social support: β=0.17, p<0.001). An analysis of the interaction efects also revealed that a high level of self-efcacy was associated with perceived stress being less strongly linked to mental health (β=0.29, p<0.001). Conclusions These fndings suggest that self-efcacy, mindfulness, and perceived social support are valuable resources for protecting students’ mental health. Thus, implementing interventions aimed at reinforcing them, could support students in applied sciences all along their academic pathway, in their classes and during their professional work experience placements.
SWITCH edu-ID
Administration
