Well-Being and Academic Outcomes

This shift is happening because the connection between well-being and academic outcomes is becoming clearer. Higher education administrators cite mental health, substance use, and sexual violence as significant issues facing their students.² Students also identify the connection, listing health and well-being concerns as top impediments to their academic performance.^3,4

Mental health alone—just one aspect of well-being—has been shown to impact student retention, progress and graduation.^5-7 For example, the Healthy Minds Study found that college students with mental health concerns were twice as likely to leave their institution without graduating.^5,6 The College Life Study found mental health concerns to predict discontinuous enrollment, with students with depression symptoms and/or diagnosis in college being more likely to stop out.⁷ 

Sense of belonging, or connectedness to the college community—another well-being component—has also been linked to academic performance and retention. Even small interventions aimed to improve a sense of belonging have been shown to improve grades and persistence.⁸ 

Though the research is still under way, it is becoming clear that student well-being is a good investment from an academic and economic perspective for institutions of higher education.^9,10

Well-Being and Mental Health Imperative

The Socio-ecological Model is a systems-level approach that recognizes there are many contributions to one’s well-being. Models typically include four of five levels of influence, which range in nomenclature but often include individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy.¹⁴ For the purposes of well-being at the University of Iowa, we use a four-level model approach:

1. Individual level (knowledge, attitudes, skills, etc.)
2. Interpersonal level (peers, family, faculty, colleagues, healthcare providers, etc.)
3. Organizational level (student orgs, units, departments, colleges, etc.)
4. Campus level (policies, environments, campus culture, etc.)

The model recognizes that risk and protective factors exist at all levels, and that there are complex interactions between levels. By applying the socio-ecological model, we can address well-being and mental health at multiple levels to create comprehensive and sustainable change.

Student Support

Many departments on campus support student well-being, including Recreational Services, Student Care and Assistance, Student Health, Student Wellness, and University Counseling Service. These departments each reach thousands of students in any given year. Well-being services from these departments and others span across a range of levels of the Socio-ecological Model, although a significant amount of staff time is spent on one-on-one appointments with and to support students. Some of these supports include personal training, wellness coaching, healthcare visits, and individual therapy. Learn more about the impact of some services in the Basic Needs, Student Care and Assistance and Student Wellness annual reports.

Faculty and Staff Support

At the University of Iowa, liveWELL is a cornerstone of our commitment to fostering a healthy and supportive environment for our faculty and staff. As a unit of University Human Resources, liveWELL is dedicated to enhancing the well-being and mental health of our employees through a variety of innovative programs and services including health coaching, the Employee Assistance Program, and Family Services. liveWELL serves hundreds of faculty and staff every year. Learn more about the impact of these services on faculty and staff in the liveWELL annual report. 

The Work of the Collaborative

As outlined above, the University of Iowa has invested significant time and resources in supporting individual and interpersonal level change through programs and services within Student Life and University Human Resources. These programs and services continue to be provided effectively to students and employees to support the range of well-being needs (physical, mental, financial, etc.). 

With these foundational programs in place, the University of Iowa is able to focus on strategies that will result in culture change at organizational and campus levels. The current objective within the University of Iowa strategic plan is to embed well-being and mental health into all aspects of campus culture to better support students, faculty, and staff. Moving forward with this objective will require the university to engage in transformational culture change in the areas of leadership, policy, infrastructure, and engagement. The Well-Being and Mental Health Campus Collaborative, which brings together faculty, staff, and students from across campus, has been charged with enacting this objective of the strategic plan. Part of the collaborative’s work is to outline and monitor high-level metrics that capture campus level indicators of mental health and well-being.