UNIFY
UNIFY researches and promotes student mental health at three university campuses using a mixed-methods approach to establish evidence-based, scalable interventions and foster sustainable cultural change in higher education institutions.
Representative comparative analyses of health among higher education students and non-students of the same age.
"Thinking means comparing." (Walther Rathenau, quoted in „Auf dem Fechtboden des Geistes - Aphorismen aus seinen Notizbüchern", 1953)
Project lead GesundStudiPro
GesundStudiPro
In Germany, there is a lack of information and research on health, illness, and disability of students and doctoral candidates. Health is a prerequisite for employability and academic success. The health of students deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no systematic health monitoring in Germany, and students are not included in national health surveys. The existing study landscape is fragmented. One untapped source of data is the Microcensus, Germany’s “small census” and largest household survey. Recently, the Microcensus has integrated the European Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), which includes health-related questions. The research project aims to generate new scientific insights through secondary analyses of the 2021 and 2022 Microcensus data. A unique feature of the Microcensus is its ability to analyse health differences between 1. students and non-students of the same age, 2. students who drop out of university, which provides insights into correlations between health and academic success or dropout, and 3. doctoral candidates, for whom health data is particularly scarce. The comparative analyses will focus on:
a) health conditions, b) disabilities, c) illnesses, d) utilization of healthcare services, e) health expenditure, and f) health behaviours, while accounting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. The secondary analyses will employ descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and multivariate regression analyses. The study will not only identify correlations but also generate population representative prevalence rates and (severe) disability rates. Disparities revealed by the findings will indicate areas for potential prevention. Beyond generating new scientific knowledge, the project will derive implications for universities, practical applications, and policymaking.
Prof. Dr. Alfons Hollederer
Project lead
University of Kassel
Chair of Health Care Theory and Research
Projects
UNIFY
UNIFY researches and promotes student mental health at three university campuses using a mixed-methods approach to establish evidence-based, scalable interventions and foster sustainable cultural change in higher education institutions.
HoBeFo
The research project HoBeFo examines counselling services and structures for neurodivergent and psychologically impaired students across the student life cycle, aiming to develop more tailored counselling and support services and structures together with actors within and outside higher education.
GesA Stud
GesA Stud develops and evaluates low-threshold, personalized interventions to promote student health and sustainably enhance academic success.
MUTSPRUNG
MUTSPRUNG brings together universities in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the Doctoral School NRW to conduct academic research on the mental health of students and PhD students, focusing on individual and structural factors, vulnerable phases during their studies, as well as existing barriers to and opportunities for participation.
HoPsy
HoPsy taps into analytical potential at the interdisciplinary interface of higher education research and health science and strengthens the possibility of evidence-based control by universities for the health-sensitive further development of higher education structures by providing more differentiated findings on the simultaneous influence of individual and institutional determinants.
StaR_MHI
StaR_MHI is a three-part collaborative project within the expert network of the German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), the University Hospital Halle, the Leibniz Institute of Resilience Research (LIR), the German Youth Institute (DJI), the LMU University Hospital München, the Charité University Hospital Berlin, the University Hospital Jena, the Central Institute of Mental Health Mannheim, the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), the Institute of Psychology and the Student Health Management of the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg that aims to identify predictors of students’ mental health, validate them through high-frequency longitudinal analyses, and adapt and further develop suitable interdisciplinary intervention platforms for support and guidance.
CAMPUS
The CAMPUS framework developed from the project will include suitable recommendations for universities, based on a systematic investigation of risk and resilience factors at both the individual level and the structural institutional level of higher education.
StuPsy
The project investigates the development, determinants, and effects of mental health throughout the course of (under)graduate and doctoral studies.
PsychKOMPASS
PsychKOMPASS analyzes psychosocial counseling services for students nationwide, identifies needs and barriers, and, based on this analysis, develops evidence-based, practical recommendations for the sustainable improvement of services at universities and student services organizations.