Dive Brief:
- While most research focuses on the mental well-being of students on campus, academic staff also suffer from mental health issues while on the job, but there is still not enough data on the issue, reports The Times of Higher Education.
- In reviewing existing evidence, the Times of Higher Education found academics, especially those involved in research, face higher mental health risks than in other professions, because of job insecurity, lack of support from the top, heavy workloads, the competitive grant winning environment and the pressure to balance work with family life, among other factors.
- A poor workplace environment has negative side effects not only for the faculty, but for the institution — as staff may miss work, or attend work but be less productive. However, how to effectively intervene in higher education to prevent this and help staff is still limited.
Dive Insight:
Recent evidence shows students on campus generally do not know how to access resources that help them alleviate their stress or they don't seek it out, even though the majority of students say their mental health is important to them. One suggested way of better addressing the needs of those on campus is to invest in staff and faculty development to steer students in the right direction of resources.
But while there's a lot of research to say how staff can be better trained to help students, there is little evidence on how to intervene and offer administrators and faculty support. Institutions wanting to make sure both students and faculty on campus are having their needs met — and making sure both groups can achieve institutional and academic goals — can take steps to collect their own data on the types of strategies they should be offering to address mental ill-health.
There is a fine line to walk between ensuring institutions are getting the most productivity out of faculty and staff and making sure individuals are not being overburdened with the work of three. A number of factors can affect how productive or effective staff is, like the stress of too much work, insecurity in employment or concerns on family life. Promoting a supportive environment for faculty and staff, as well as students, is important, especially as a growing number of faculty on campus are employed on a contingent basis, juggling multiple campuses.