University Campus Mental Health: A Paradigm Shift on Uganda Campuses

Abstract

Students’ mental health constitutes a topic of rising interest around the world and in a wide variety of settings. The predominant basic beliefs and actions on how we articulate the basic information about our understanding, assessment procedures, services delivery approaches and conducting research on student mental health issues is largely skewed towards a unifactorial approach. A paradigm shift which indicates a change of position, reconstructing our beliefs and actions when articulating on student mental health issues is suggested through the outcome of a developed multidimensional psychological instrument. This paper examines the nature of student mental health status, the privileged position of universities to address students mental health needs, the predominant mental health paradigm addressing students’ mental health issues and the a new paradigm shift that offers a multidimensional approach to the understanding, assessing, services provisions and constructing an alternative research agenda on students’ mental health and the challenges inherent in this approach.