Ready or not…here we grow! Evaluating the competency of nursing faculty in supporting nursing student mental health: A quantitative investigation

College students are amid a mental health crisis with campuses seeing the highest rates of mental health disorders in over a decade. College nursing students stand out as particularly affected, experiencing elevated levels of anxiety, stress, and depression compared to the general student population. At the forefront of addressing this issue are college faculty, especially nursing faculty, who play a unique role in identifying and referring students with mental health needs due to their close interactions in smaller teaching-learning settings such as clinicals, simulations, and one-on-one validations. This study evaluated the perceived competency, knowledge, engagement, and fear levels of nursing faculty in supporting the mental health of Bachelor of Science in Nursing students. Additionally, the study explored whether faculty members with prior MH training differed in these levels. Survey data from 63 faculty members employed across six prominent nursing schools in the southeast region of the United States, all offering Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs, were analyzed. Employing a cross-sectional design, the study utilized the “College Mental Health Perceived Competency Scale” (CMHPCS) to assess faculty's competence, knowledge, engagement and fear in supporting student mental health. Among the 63 participants, significant differences were observed in engagement levels between nursing faculty with and without prior mental health training (p