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Supporting Learners with Mental Health Difficulties

This project aspires to provide helpful insights into how tutors can best teach and support students with mental health difficulties in a distance learning context. 

Overall, 28% of students studying psychology and counselling modules at the Open University have additional requirements. Teaching staff routinely find that students with mental health (MH) issues often struggle more than other students to progress with and successfully complete their studies. Tutors can also find it difficult to know how best to support students who have MH issues.  

This scholarship project focuses on the perspectives of tutors supporting students with mental health issues. The collection of data is based on semi-structured  interviews with tutors who are counsellors/psychotherapist/therapists in MH and who also have a wealth of experience in teaching students with MH issues in a distance learning context. The project is addressing the following key questions: 

  • What are the difficulties that students with MH face? 

  • What are the difficulties in supporting students with MH and what works well? 

  • What are the difficulties when teaching students with MH (face to face and online – tutorials, forums, use of email) and what works well?

  • What are the difficulties when providing written feedback to students with MH and what works well?  

  • What can enable students with MH to complete their studies successfully? 

  • What is helpful to teaching staff when working with students with MH?