The Framework for Evaluating Mental Health and Wellness Education and Training Resources is intended to guide the evaluation and selection of mental health and wellness education and training resources to support students, staff, and faculty at B.C. post-secondary institutions. Specifically, this framework will guide the process of reviewing existing resources and identify gaps that will inform recommendations for the development of new resources.

The framework identifies the elements for selecting and creating resources for mental health and wellness education and training. It includes the following elements:

1. Target audiences
2. Guiding theories
3. Six key principles
4. Evaluation tool to guide the review of mental health education and training resources
5. Glossary
6. References

An environmental scan conducted on behalf of BCcampus identified a number of needs regarding the target audiences for mental health and wellness education and training (Moore, 2019). The following information outlines the particular needs for each group.

All Students

The broad audience is all students; however, specific groups were identified for whom a lack of resources is a key issue. International, Indigenous, and graduate students make up these specific groups.

The most notable challenges for students are as follows:

• Finding the time and effort required to attend and “survive” school
• Mental load from uncertainty and external pressures
• Availability of resources that support different barriers
• Managing multiple demands
• Building day-to-day resilience (BCcampus, 2020)

Faculty and Staff

The broad audience is all faculty; however, it was noted that frontline staff are in most need of mental health and wellness education and training:

Qualitative interviews revealed that student mental health training for faculty and staff was a gap particularly for sessional faculty and new employees. Furthermore, they highlighted that educating faculty to support student mental health in the classroom was an unmet need.

The environmental scan identified a lack of resources for the following specific groups:

• TAs/lab assistants and sessionals
• New hires
• Frontline staff (e.g., security, coaches, academic advisors, accessibility assessment coordinators, department secretaries)

The most notable challenges for faculty and staff are as follows:

• Establishing a boundary of responsibility
• Mental load
• Clarity in role
• Clarity around what to do/who to contact if a specific situation arises (BCcampus, 2020, p. 11)

Moving from awareness to literacy is critical. The concept of health literacy is foundational to health-related learning (Nutbeam, 2020). Similarly, when we seek to educate about mental health and wellness, mental health literacy is the goal (Kutcher et al., 2016). A range of research shows the positive effects of mental health literacy and the negative impacts that result when it doesn’t exist (Coles et al., 2016; Gulliver et al., 2019; Brijnath et al., 2016).

Mental health literacy is commonly understood as having four components (Kutcher et al., 2016):

1. Understanding how to obtain and maintain positive mental health
2. Understanding mental disorders and their treatments
3. Decreasing stigma related to mental disorders
4. Enhancing help-seeking efficacy

We propose a fifth component to mental health literacy: critical mental health literacy. Building on the concept of health literacy (Nutbeam, 2000), critical mental health literacy refers to the skills and knowledge needed to advocate for change in an environment, which may result in improved mental health and wellness.

As we work to curate and develop mental health and wellness education and training resources for students, faculty, and staff, the goal should be to increase their mental health literacy.

Existing literature and research can inform how we approach this work. We propose two key theories that establish a reference point and language we can use to evaluate resources.

The first guiding theory is the ecological model of health (Appendix A), which recognizes the importance of one’s environment on their mental well-being.

The second is the dual-continuum model of mental health and mental illness (Appendix B), which reminds us that mental health is not defined by the absence of mental illness and also that a diagnosis of a mental illness does not deny one’s ability to achieve positive mental health.

Mental health and wellness education and training resources should be:

• Accessible
• Adaptable
• Culturally located
• Evidence-informed
• Inclusive
• Trauma-informed

Currently post-secondary institutions use a range of principles, philosophies, and approaches to guide the use of resources that support student mental health and wellness on campus. Two advisory groups of staff, faculty, and students worked together to identify key principles for education and training resources that support students with mental health and wellness. These principles capture both the how and the what of effective training resources: What does the resource do? How does it accomplish this?

Ideally, all resources will include all six principles. However, this will be difficult to accomplish. Our goal is to identify those resources that explicitly or implicitly embed the majority of the principles outlined below. These principles are drawn from the guiding theories and are required components to delivering effective mental health and wellness education and training.

1. Accessible

Access typically refers to all the ways in which organizations work to accommodate the needs of people from a variety of backgrounds, abilities, and learning styles.

Accessibility means having a place, environment, or event that is set up from the start to be accessible to all individuals. This may require strategies that address actual and potential barriers, such as offering learning materials in multiple formats and languages, using plain language, and ensuring representation of diverse needs in resources and training materials.

Examples

• Resources developed using principles of the Universal Design for Learning approach to accommodate learning and other access differences.
• Low barriers to use and entry, such as being welcoming and avoiding stigmatization.
• Online courses that include images of individuals with disabilities engaged in their communities.
• Resources developed for individuals who do not have internet access or internet-enabled devices.
• Free online resources available without paywalls.
• Using plain language.
• Different delivery methods, such as in person and online.

2. Adaptable

Recognizing that all post-secondary institutions are unique, mental health and wellness education and training resources must be adaptable to different audiences and campus contexts. Resources should have creative commons licensing that allows for adaptation.

Examples:

• Resources that can accommodate the branding of any institute, college, or university that chooses to adopt them.
• Resources that include stories and perspectives and refer to services that are meaningful for both urban and rural individuals.
• Resources that can be delivered online, face to face, or blended and could be self-directed or facilitated.
• Resources that are sustainable.
• Resources that have a modular format and licensing that allows for adaptation.

3. Culturally Located

Culture is a complex phenomenon that includes the worldviews, knowledge, values, traditions, beliefs, capabilities, and social and political relationships of a group of people. Mental health and wellness resources must recognize and incorporate diverse cultural identities and value the knowledge and experience participants bring to the learning environment. Individuals in different cultures might describe illness differently and possibly even experience different symptoms. Culture affects whether people seek help, what types of help they seek, their coping styles and social supports, and how much stigma they attach to mental illness.

Examples:

• Indigenous cultural safety that fosters a climate where the unique history of Indigenous peoples is recognized and respected.
• Acknowledgement that different cultures view mental health and wellness in different ways.
• Resources that avoid a cultural bias.
• Resources that incorporate stories or testimonials from unique cultural contexts, such as Indigenous, 2SLGBTQQIA+, and Multicultural, for example.
• Resources that acknowledge and avoid colonial bias.
• Resources that acknowledge intersectionality and provide diverse examples.

4. Evidence-informed

Evidence-informed practice brings together lived experience and diverse expertise with the best available research. It means using evidence to identify the potential benefits, harms, and costs of any intervention and acknowledging that what works in one context may not be appropriate or feasible in another. Evidence-informed practice acknowledges that evidence and research change over time, and best practices cannot remain static.

Examples:

• A training program or resource developed using evidence from a range of sources, including expertise from a campus group that has run the program before, findings from a community organization that has run a similar program before, Indigenous perspectives, and a synthesis of academic research.
• Resources that are based on leading practices from current research and delivered in a way that considers the capacity of the individual, on-campus organizations, and the local community.

5. Inclusive

In this context, inclusivity acknowledges the diversity of lived experiences. Guided by Corey Keyes’s dual-continuum model of mental health and illness, inclusivity ensures we do not exclude any individual who does not identify with one definition of mental health or illness. Inclusivity ensures that resources do not perpetuate mental health stigma, prejudice, or discrimination and invites all individuals to join in the conversation and participate in the work.

Examples:

• Resources for addressing individuals with pre-existing mental health conditions, individuals showing precursors to a mental health condition, individuals experiencing episodic distress (stress, mood issues, anxiety issues), and individuals looking for information to support another (faculty to student, staff to student, student to student, etc.).
• Resources that incorporate stories or testimonials from a range of experiences with mental health and illness.
• Resources for individuals who are currently well and looking to stay resilient but have possibly experienced mental illness or episodic distress in the past.

6. Trauma-informed

Trauma describes the challenging emotional consequences of a distressing event. Traumatic events can be difficult to define because the same event may be more traumatic for one individual than for others (CAMH, n.d.).

Trauma-informed practice is about developing approaches to training resources that avoid re-traumatizing people and incorporate the principles of safety, choice, collaboration, trustworthiness, and empowerment (University of Buffalo, n.d.).

Examples:

• Reframing the perspective away from “What’s wrong with you?”
• Including “space-making” activities such as group guidelines and debriefing practices to increase participant safety.
• Applying an understanding of trauma theory.

Attributions

The principles in this chapter were adapted from the Evaluating Sexualized Violence Training and Resources by the Sexualized Violence and Misconduct Training and Resources Working Group, which is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 Licence.

The tool that follows helps guide the assessment of education and training resources. The first section documents the resource’s key elements. The second section evaluates the resource against the guiding theories and principles. You can download an editable version of this tool here: MHW Evaluation Tool [Word].

Name of resource:

Source:

Key Element

Guiding Questions

• Audience: Who is the general audience: students, faculty, staff, or all? Who is the specific target audience? (e.g., Indigenous students, grad students, international students, women, men, gender-diverse individuals)
• Content: What are the learning goals and outcomes of the training? Which aspects of mental health literacy are addressed? What is the primary focus? Is it comprehensive?
• Format: How long is the education or training? Is it online or in person? Is the training accessible in physical space, language, and pedagogical approach? Are learner needs considered?

Evaluation

Guiding Questions

• Theories: What is the overall approach in the training or resource? Is a particular theory indicated?
• Principles: What principles are reflected in the training or resource? Some principles may be explicitly stated; others may be implicit.
  1. Accessible
  2. Adaptable
  3. Culturally located
  4. Evidence informed
  5. Inclusive
  6. Trauma informed
• Strengths: What indicates that the training or resource is worth using? (e.g., meets the needs of a particular audience, is flexible, can be delivered in multiple ways, supports one of the guiding theories, has been successful in the past)
• Limitations: What factors limit the success of the training or resource? Can the training or resource be revised with minimal effort?
• Recommendations: Do you recommend this resource? Is it fit for purpose? Does it need modification? If yes, how much?