Improving university students’ mental health literacy using experiential learning opportunities

Objectives: University students represent a vulnerable population to mental health and wellbeing issues. However, young people are likely to delay or fail to engage in help-seeking behaviours. Embedding mental health learning opportunities in curriculum design may improve the mental health and wellbeing of students, but there are challenges to embedding this material in non-health disciplines where students’ intrinsic interests may not align with mental health–themed coursework. To explore this challenge, the present study involved embedding mental health literacy learning into an Event Management course through an experiential learning opportunity. Design: A quasi-experimental design involving university students divided into intervention groups (n = 40) and control groups (n = 83). Setting: Students in the intervention groups managed events across campuses of a major Australian university in support of a University Mental Health and Wellbeing Day. Students in the control groups managed non-mental health events. Method: Pre- and post-event surveys compared students’ perceptions of experiential learning, of the effectiveness of student-led events in promoting mental health literacy and help-seeking behaviours in themselves and peers, and of embedding mental health learning into an experiential learning framework. Results: Results suggest that experiential learning opportunities that contain mental health literacy content in addition to course content can be valuable without interruption to core learning aims. Conclusion: This study is one of the first to evaluate the impact of innovative curriculum designs that embed mental health literacy in non-health disciplines, highlighting the opportunities for creative approaches to improving mental health education in universities.