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Response Actions of Malaysian Universities and Colleges in Managing Student Mental Health: A Systematic Review

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Abstract

The concern on mental health issues keeps increasing among college students globally. College years are prone for students to experience mental disorders. Hence, the demand for mental health services on campus far exceeds the available resources. Colleges around the world are aware of the critical issue of mental health among their students. Some institutions have come up with emerging programs, new online resources, and innovative approaches to tackling the problems. This study, therefore, aims at identifying the resources to aid mental health problems made available by the universities in Malaysia. To identify available resources, we employed the systematic review using the PRISMA guidelines. The review includes reports as well as information available on the internet. A checklist is employed to filter the information gathered. Gathering information from the local universities, the study reviews websites and interviews the student affairs division for activities concerning mental health. The findings reveal available approaches to tackle the mental health problems among students and to what extent the universities take actions to help resolve the condition. Finally, this study recommends that universities take intensive initiatives to help students with mental health problems. They should move forward from increasing awareness toward conducting intervention programs.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Selangor State Government for funding the research under the grant GPNS-01-/UNISEL/18-014. There was no conflict of interest in regards to the financial support as well as the relationship among authors and with the Selangor State Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Language Education, Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Universiti Selangor, Jalan Timur Tambahan, 45600, Batang Berjuntai, Selangor, Malaysia

    Astri Yulia

  2. Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Universiti Selangor, Jalan Timur Tambahan, 45600, Batang Berjuntai, Selangor, Malaysia

    Angela Chan Nguk Fong & Affezah Ali

  3. Department of Computing, Faculty of Communication, Visual Art and Computing, Universiti Selangor, Jalan Timur Tambahan, 45600, Batang Berjuntai, Selangor, Malaysia

    Hema Subramaniam

  4. Department of Early Childhood Studies, Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Universiti Selangor, Jalan Timur Tambahan, 45600, Batang Berjuntai, Selangor, Malaysia

    Saturia Amiruddin

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  1. Astri Yulia
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  2. Angela Chan Nguk Fong
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  3. Affezah Ali
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Correspondence to Astri Yulia.

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Yulia, A., Fong, A.C.N., Ali, A. et al. Response Actions of Malaysian Universities and Colleges in Managing Student Mental Health: A Systematic Review. Int. Journal of Com. WB 5, 21–36 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42413-021-00132-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42413-021-00132-8

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