Staff Confidence in Supporting Student Mental Health: Outcomes from a Survey

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The topic is important to study; therefore the research needs to be high-quality to add to existing research literature. This manuscript needs to be majorly improved. The comments:

·       The theoretical background part (introduction) has to be improved. The list of references is not sufficient, please base your work on more previous studies and literature.

·       The survey used in the current study: As It can be understood, this is an original survey and was used for the first time. In this case, more than Cronbach’s alpha has to be reported. Additional analysis has to be performed and reported, for example, CFA of the scales. You have provided several examples of items included in the questionnaire, but it is advised to give an example about each of the scales when you first mention the scales.

·       It is debatable whether the division of the sample into subsamples based on age is acceptable at all. Because the subsamples are too small for any adequate statistical analysis. In my opinion, such conclusions that are stated in the Results can not be based on the comparison of subsamples of 5 or 8 individuals. And this also shows in the data analysis – it is hard to prove there are statistically significant differences.

Please check the reference list formatting and adjust it to the rules of the journal (e.g., in one reference there is a “.” after the name of the journal, in another there is no punctutation etc.).

Author Response

Thank you for the helpful suggestions to improve this article.

The theoretical background part (introduction) has to be improved. The list of references is not sufficient, please base your work on more previous studies and literature.

We have included more citations from previous literature and studies.

The survey used in the current study: As It can be understood, this is an original survey and was used for the first time. In this case, more than Cronbach’s alpha has to be reported. Additional analysis has to be performed and reported, for example, CFA of the scales. You have provided several examples of items included in the questionnaire, but it is advised to give an example about each of the scales when you first mention the scales.

We cannot perform a CFA on SPSS Statistics
We have added subscales examples when we first mention the scales

It is debatable whether the division of the sample into subsamples based on age is acceptable at all. Because the subsamples are too small for any adequate statistical analysis. In my opinion, such conclusions that are stated in the Results can not be based on the comparison of subsamples of 5 or 8 individuals. And this also shows in the data analysis – it is hard to prove there are statistically significant differences.

• t test and ANOVA analysis has been removed and we comment on frequencies only
• we clearly acknowledged limitations in materials, methods, discussion and results as this was a preliminary study
• wording has been changed to remove any comments on statistically significant data

Please check the reference list formatting and adjust it to the rules of the journal (e.g., in one reference there is a “.” after the name of the journal, in another there is no punctutation etc.).

Changes have been made to references to assure correct punctuation and previous are used

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I appreciate the opportunity to review this manuscript on a very important topic. Mental health issues amongst youth are increasing and it is important that all educators are aware of signs of mental health decline and disturbance and know how to respond effectively. 

I offer the following suggestions to improve this manuscript. 

1. I would like to see a more thorough definition of mental health and more of a review of literature that focuses on college students' mental health specifically and the role of faculty and staff in supporting student mental health. 

2. On p. 2 the author discusses how responding to students' mental health concerns is part of the academic role. This may be the case, but I am not convinced that academics are aware of their role. Could this point be discussed a bit more? 

3. I am not exactly sure what it means to be an "academic or personal tutor". Is this the role of a faculty member? Can this position be defined and described more thoroughly? 

4. I think the comment about working outside of "usual working hours" and "encroaching on their personal and professional lives" do not fit very well". Faculty are known to have very flexible hours and this does not really seem to be the main issue. If a student had an academic concern, would time spent helping the student be seen as "outside usual working hours"? How does this relate to the focus of the study? 

5. Overall writing can be proofed for grammatical errors and to make sure all sentences make sense. 

6. Seems like the survey went to both undergraduate and graduate faculty and staff. Schools of Law and Life and Medical Sciences are graduate schools and may include more students who are struggling with mental health. I think the random selection of these schools and the likelihood of students experiencing mental health from each school needs to be discussed in greater detail. Does it make sense to include graduate schools in this survey? More discussion regarding the surveying of both undergraduate and graduate faculty as well as their different roles when working with students needs to be discussed. Graduate faculty may work more closely with students than undergraduate faculty? This issue needs to be discussed more. 

7. In addition to reporting the number of participants responding to the survey, it would be also good to report the percentage of participants on p. 3. 

8. Although results were analyzed by age and sex, it would be also interesting to analyze results by specific role in the university, such as faculty compared to administrators or tutors.  Numbers of participants for each of the different roles should also be included. Are there more expectations for faculty to intervene when students are experiencing a mental health crisis compared to academic deans? 

9. In the second paragraph in the Discussion section on p. 7, the author talks about "a need for improvement". Please specify the specific need for improvement. 

10. Definition of a "personal tutor" would be helpful so that all readers can understand the role of a "personal tutor". 

11. I did not understand the rationale for male-led interventions to improve mental health literacy and confidence supporting mental health for male academics. Can the author please clarify this statement? 

12. More discussion of the responses to different scales could be helpful as well as what the implications of those results mean for academics in their role of supporting students' mental health. Bring in more information from previous literature on this topic in the Discussion. Make connections to prior literature and findings from this study. Talk more specifically about what results were surprising and what were expected. 

12. In relation to the discussion of limitations, the low response rate is a huge limitation. More discussion of why there was such a low response rate is needed in general and specifically in relation to the topic of students' mental health. The fact that only 3.75 % of participants completed the survey may be a message about faculty's interest in student mental health and how they view their role in supporting student mental health. This should be discussed more. 

13. I agree that focus groups would be important to include in future research on this topic to allow collection of more qualitative data regarding this subject. 

14. I agree with the authors' conclusions, and would also like to see a specific section discussing implications of this research study, perhaps, expanding on some of the specific conclusions identified. 

 

Author Response

Thank you for the helpful suggestions to improve this article.

1. I would like to see a more thorough definition of mental health and more of a review of literature that focuses on college students' mental health specifically and the role of faculty and staff in supporting student mental health.

A definition of mental health from WHO has been included at the outset. An additional sentence has been added and the last paragraph talks more specifically about staff supporting students mental health.

2. On p. 2 the author discusses how responding to students' mental health concerns is part of the academic role. This may be the case, but I am not convinced that academics are aware of their role. Could this point be discussed a bit more?

Note: the last paragraph in the introduction has studies expressing views of staff.

3. I am not exactly sure what it means to be an "academic or personal tutor". Is this the role of a faculty member? Can this position be defined and described more thoroughly?

A sentence has been added to clarify.

4. I think the comment about working outside of "usual working hours" and "encroaching on their personal and professional lives" do not fit very well". Faculty are known to have very flexible hours and this does not really seem to be the main issue. If a student had an academic concern, would time spent helping the student be seen as "outside usual working hours"? How does this relate to the focus of the study?

A sentence has been added to clarify it’s significantly increasing their workload and encroaching on personal time. This study underscores the need for universities to recognise the increase in workload allocation, address the importance of staff awareness of student mental health and how to effectively support. 

5. Overall writing can be proofed for grammatical errors and to make sure all sentences make sense.

This has been completed

6. Seems like the survey went to both undergraduate and graduate faculty and staff. Schools of Law and Life and Medical Sciences are graduate schools and may include more students who are struggling with mental health. I think the random selection of these schools and the likelihood of students experiencing mental health from each school needs to be discussed in greater detail. Does it make sense to include graduate schools in this survey? More discussion regarding the surveying of both undergraduate and graduate faculty as well as their different roles when working with students needs to be discussed. Graduate faculty may work more closely with students than undergraduate faculty? This issue needs to be discussed more.

A sentence has been added to clarify and include a rationale.

7. In addition to reporting the number of participants responding to the survey, it would be also good to report the percentage of participants on p. 3.

We believe the percentages are clearly disclosed on page 4 and not sure why, what % or where we would include it on page 3.

8. Although results were analyzed by age and sex, it would be also interesting to analyze results by specific role in the university, such as faculty compared to administrators or tutors.  Numbers of participants for each of the different roles should also be included. Are there more expectations for faculty to intervene when students are experiencing a mental health crisis compared to academic deans?

While we agree, this demographic information was not collected to preserve anonymity of our staff. We had recognised this in our limitations as a suggestion to expand our study and will consider this for the next phase of research.

9. In the second paragraph in the Discussion section on p. 7, the author talks about "a need for improvement". Please specify the specific need for improvement.

This was clarified in the next sentence but we have rewritten for clarity.

10. Definition of a "personal tutor" would be helpful so that all readers can understand the role of a "personal tutor".

This has been added.

11. I did not understand the rationale for male-led interventions to improve mental health literacy and confidence supporting mental health for male academics. Can the author please clarify this statement?

Additional sentence added. Due to evidence showing men have lower emotional literacy, it was suggested they may have lower confidence supporting student mental health.

12. More discussion of the responses to different scales could be helpful as well as what the implications of those results mean for academics in their role of supporting students' mental health. Bring in more information from previous literature on this topic in the Discussion. Make connections to prior literature and findings from this study. Talk more specifically about what results were surprising and what were expected.

A paragraph has been added for each subscale in the discussion to discuss specific findings and literature

13. In relation to the discussion of limitations, the low response rate is a huge limitation. More discussion of why there was such a low response rate is needed in general and specifically in relation to the topic of students' mental health. The fact that only 3.75 % of participants completed the survey may be a message about faculty's interest in student mental health and how they view their role in supporting student mental health. This should be discussed more.

This has been added in limitations section.

14. I agree that focus groups would be important to include in future research on this topic to allow collection of more qualitative data regarding this subject.

Thank you.

15. I agree with the authors' conclusions, and would also like to see a specific section discussing implications of this research study, perhaps, expanding on some of the specific conclusions identified.

See section 5.1 added to address this comment

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript has been improved by authors, after the reviews.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Author(s) responded to reviewer's edits and suggestions. Manuscript is improved and ready to be accepted for publication.