Data and Research
Student Loneliness Research Project
During the 2022–23 academic year, our EDI team carried out a research project to better understand the experiences of loneliness among our students. While we’re still analysing the data, we’ve already identified some key actions and recommendations.
We already know that we must improve our student communications. To make sure that they’re aware of the support that’s available to them – and how they can access it.
Here are some of our other early findings:
Loneliness is generally quite widespread among students.
63% of LGBT+ respondents, 65% of disabled respondents and 70% of Black and Asian respondents experienced loneliness – compared to 60% overall. These groups are less likely to feel connected to the people around them.
International students, young students and placement students were also more likely to experience loneliness.
Fairly high proportions of respondents struggle with anxiety and depression (70%), stress (79%) and lack of confidence (63%).
Generally, students felt that UWE Bristol has a lot of support on offer but it’s hard to find out about this support.
Using student data to inform decision-making
Every academic year, we carry out a pre-arrival (Sep-Oct) and follow-up (Jun-Jul) survey with new undergraduate and postgraduate students. This gives us an invaluable (and up to date) insight into their perceptions, habits and concerns relating to health and wellbeing.
We ask the same questions each time, which means we can easily compare responses. Our follow-up survey’s still running, but initial findings from the pre-arrival survey informed in-year changes.
For example, the second most common worry when starting university was managing finances (13%). Also, 40% of students said that a healthy diet was very important to them, and 20% would be interested in affordable catering options.
We found that body image was also very important to respondents, with 34% worrying about the way they look all or most of the time. As a result, we’re reviewing the inclusivity of our imagery on academic and promotional materials. We’re also building better collaboration between our Centre for Sport and Centre for Appearance Research.
Access and Participation Plan (APP)
Working with partners in our region, we’re committed to making sure that all can benefit from Higher Education.
This year, we’ve focused on developing our Access and Participation Plan (APP) for academic years 2024–25 to 2027–28. We’re analysing key data from previous years to identify areas of focus going forward.
Already, our analysis has highlighted a small gap in degree completion between students with a declared mental health condition and students with no declared disabilities.
We’ve also found slightly lower completion rates for male students compared to female students. And, from our own internal evaluations as well as external research, we know that male students are less likely to access support for mental health issues.
That’s why one of our five intervention strategies in the APP is now focused on building a mentally healthy university to address these gaps.
Staff Health and Wellbeing Innovation Scheme
Our Health and Wellbeing Innovation Scheme (HWIS) is an exciting pilot project for 2022–23. Through HWIS, we’re able to explore new approaches to developing and promoting positive mental health and wellbeing among staff – physically, mentally, emotionally.
We surveyed project participants after the completion of the scheme, with 88% of respondents seeing a positive impact on their wellbeing. It was also great to hear that all respondents would recommend the scheme to their colleagues.
Here’s a closer look at just three of the projects that ran as part of HWIS.
Creative Collective
We saw strong positive feedback from staff who came along to creative workshops – and, importantly, improvements in their wellbeing. We now plan to use our findings to develop a permanent, fit-for-purpose art space on our Frenchay Campus. We’re also keen to incorporate creative sessions into team away days.
Talking About Menopause
A highly successful event with over 177 attendees. 88% percent of survey respondents rated the event as ‘very good’. And following the event, UWE Bristol’s Menochat, a supportive space for staff going through the menopause, saw a 29% increase in membership.
We Mind, We Care
With more than 50 staff attending these mindfulness sessions – plus a long waiting list – we’re already planning to run more. We’re also looking to carry out research into the impact of music on mental health and wellbeing. We’re also keen to explore the relationship between mindfulness and dietary practice.
Better data, better decisions, better outcomes
Recently, our Staff Health and Wellbeing Group implemented a quarterly and annual review of staff health and wellbeing data. The aim is to identify trends and put in place plans for proactive interventions. The data available to us includes staff sickness reports, Occupational Health (OH) reports, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) information, People and Organisation Development case work, and reasonable adjustment reports.
We’re now able to provide quarterly reports, as well as an improved staff dashboard. This means we can quickly and effectively spot early trends and emerging risks.
For example, we’ve seen the proportion of all mental health absences against all sickness absence decrease from 37.6% in 2021-21 to 26.8% in 2021–22. The figure goes down again to 26.3% in 2022–23.
However, overall we have seen a significant increase in sickness incidents and days lost and we know that stress now accounts for 38.1% of incidents and 51.0% of all days lost in all mental health absences.
Clearly, emotional/mental health is a key area for us to address and keep working at. It’s also worth noting that a significant percentage of the reports relate to a combination of mental health impacts, not solely work-related. Again this year, the other top theme to emerge was musculoskeletal conditions attributed to hybrid working.