TY - JOUR
T1 - The BodyMind Approach® to Support Students in Higher Education: The Relationship Between Student Stress, Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms and Mental Health
AU - Payne, Helen
N1 - © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2021.1878052
PY - 2021/1/24
Y1 - 2021/1/24
N2 - Using the UK as an example, students attending higher education providers (HEPs) increasingly suffer mental ill-health due to new stress factors. Relationships between stress, frequently co-occurring chronic medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) and mental health are explored as the basis for proposing The BodyMind Approach® (TBMA) as an innovative intervention, addressing the body and mind experience of MUS. Excessive stress can lead to/exacerbate, mental health difficulties and/or MUS (such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue/pain for which tests and scans are normal). MUS mostly affects women, non-native speakers and young people, all high numbers at HEPs. Students resist mental health services, and half in need do not disclose or seek help. TBMA, as an evidence-based, research-informed intervention, tested in the health service, is more accessible when framed as learning to self-manage symptom distress. Policymakers might consider this intervention to help improve student mental health as part of an institution-wide approach.
AB - Using the UK as an example, students attending higher education providers (HEPs) increasingly suffer mental ill-health due to new stress factors. Relationships between stress, frequently co-occurring chronic medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) and mental health are explored as the basis for proposing The BodyMind Approach® (TBMA) as an innovative intervention, addressing the body and mind experience of MUS. Excessive stress can lead to/exacerbate, mental health difficulties and/or MUS (such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue/pain for which tests and scans are normal). MUS mostly affects women, non-native speakers and young people, all high numbers at HEPs. Students resist mental health services, and half in need do not disclose or seek help. TBMA, as an evidence-based, research-informed intervention, tested in the health service, is more accessible when framed as learning to self-manage symptom distress. Policymakers might consider this intervention to help improve student mental health as part of an institution-wide approach.
KW - student mental health
KW - higher education providers
KW - Stress
KW - the BodyMind Approach®
KW - medically unxplained symptoms
KW - medically unexplained symptoms
KW - stress
KW - Students
KW - mental health
KW - the BodyMind Approach
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099863354&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14703297.2021.1878052
DO - 10.1080/14703297.2021.1878052
M3 - Article
SN - 1470-3297
JO - Innovations in Education and Teaching International
JF - Innovations in Education and Teaching International
ER -