New partners to evaluate mental health and wellbeing interventions using theory-based methods

Following an open call in spring 2024, TASO has selected and funded two universities to participate in a project that will evaluate student mental health and wellbeing interventions they deliver. The universities will work with the independent evaluators to explore the impact of their interventions using theory based evaluation methods, with the intention of providing robust evidence on mental health and wellbeing interventions delivered in the higher education sector to small cohorts of students.

This project is one of three TASO flagship student mental health projects. Each project involves different evaluation methodologies: randomised controlled trials, quasi-experimental designs, and evaluation with small cohorts.

The interventions being evaluated are:

• Leeds Trinity University (LTU) – are delivering Coaching the Gap
  • A coaching programme to support and promote positive wellbeing for at risk Black, Asian and ethnic minority students at LTU. Coaching is delivered by Flourished Minds, an organisation that works with students to navigate issues they face and develop tools and skills to address challenges.
    • “LTU’s mission recognises that we all benefit from better student outcomes and reap the rewards individually and collectively of transformational education. Coaching the Gap is an approach that extends beyond the academic realm, offering coaching sessions that harness a variety of techniques to foster confidence and support ABMO students who face the threat of academic failure due to mental health struggles stemming from racial bias, stigma, and discrimination. The project offers tailored support through personalised one-on-one coaching, well-being sessions and wrap-around care. We are committed to listening and learning from our students so this initiative, grounded in student voice, aims to support all our students to reach their full potential and thrive at Leeds Trinity University.”  – Syra Shakir, Associate Professor Learning and Teaching, and Strategic Lead Race Equality
• St Mary’s University (SMU), Twickenham – are delivering The Boundary Spanner Project.
  • The project aims to support the mental wellbeing of students from widening participation (WP) groups by running two initiatives, targeting different WP groups. Popular activities are used as a ‘hook’ to encourage students to attend the session, where they can then meet informally with wellbeing staff, academic staff and other students. The project is made up of two initiatives, Reprezent Health and Hang out and paint. Reprezent Health targets males from diverse ethnic backgrounds, and males who commute from low-income areas studying sports courses. Sessions are run twice a week in the university resistance training suite during term time and are scheduled after core. Hang out and Paint is an open session for all students and staff to attend. Sessions run weekly and last for two hours, allowing participants to drop in at any point during this period. Various creative activities are put on including watercolour on canvas, miniature painting and dexterity-based crafting.
    • “We are delighted to be involved in this interesting project. The work will be a collaboration between St Mary’s University, TASO and Bath SDR, but is also a novel collaboration between three areas of SMU – The Faculty of Sport, Technology and Health Sciences through Michael Hobson, Student Services through Howard Bateman and, Widening Participation through Nikki Anghileri. The two student well-being initiatives we are examining are very popular amongst students and it will be great to be involved in external evaluation of them, to understand whether or how they make a difference to students. It is also a great opportunity for us to learn more about impact evaluation in ways that we will be able to apply to a number of different initiatives.” – Nikki Anghileri, Head of Widening Participation

Tharani Learning and Research, which is made up of two independent evaluators, Amira Tharani and Emma Roberts, will be exploring whether the coaching intervention has improved students’ wellbeing and engagement, and, if so, how it has worked and under what circumstances, using a realist evaluation approach.

• “We are really excited to be working on this in-depth realist evaluation with TASO and Leeds Trinity University. This is a unique opportunity to understand how coaching works, for whom and in what circumstances within a Higher Education context. We are also delighted to be evaluating a project with such a clear focus on racial equity. We very much hope that this will add to our understanding of how universities can move towards greater racial equity and closing the awarding gap.” – Amira Tharani

Bath Social and Development Research are evaluating The Boundary Spanner Project. They will be using the Qualitative Impact Protocol (QuIP) which is an eclectic approach which draws on aspects of Process Tracing, Contribution Analysis, Most Significant Change and Realist Evaluation. QuIP is a non-experimental, qualitative approach, designed as a way for small and medium sized organisations  to address the ‘attribution problem’ without relying on large-scale quantitative, counterfactual data.”

• • “Bath Social & Development Research Ltd is very pleased to be part of this important research. We will be using our specialised approach to conducting and analysing in-depth interviews to help understand the drivers of both positive and negative experiences for students who may find university a challenging environment, and we hope that this will contribute to improving university support services.”  – Fiona Remnant, Director

The final reports will be published in Autumn 2025.