Students are the future of the country and must receive the necessary health care. Especially in situations where the academic burden is heavy, ensuring that the mental and psychological well-being of students does not pose significant issues is not only the responsibility of individuals, families, schools, and the government but also the responsibility of the entire society.
## The Situation is Urgent, There’s No Time to Lose
Academic workload and the pressure of further education are the main factors leading to mental health issues among some students. According to the “Blue Book of Mental Health for Adolescents” released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2020, the detection rate of depression in primary school students is around 10%, with severe depression detection rates at 1.9%-3.3%. In junior high school, the detection rate of depression is around 30%, with severe depression detection rates at 7.6%-8.6%. In senior high school, the detection rate of depression is close to 40%, with severe depression detection rates at 10.9%-12.6%.
To timely grasp the mental and psychological conditions of students and ensure their healthy growth, on April 20, 2023, the Ministry of Education, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, and 14 other ministries jointly issued the “Special Action Plan for Strengthening and Improving Student Mental Health Work in the New Era (2023-2025)”, which requires regular mental health assessments for students. Utilizing the key periods of the school year, at least one mental health assessment should be conducted each year for students in higher grades of primary, junior high, senior high, and vocational schools. The schools are guided to scientifically and effectively utilize the assessment results to establish individualized mental health profiles. Universities should conduct timely mental health assessments for new students each year, analyze the results scientifically, and develop categorized mental health education programs.
In November 2023, the Ministry of Education issued a notice to establish the National Student Mental Health Work Consultation Committee to make full use of experts’ consultation and decision-making assistance roles, thus enhancing the scientific decision-making level of student mental health work. It further called for the organization of professional forces to develop a psychological health assessment tool library suitable for the characteristics of primary, junior, and middle schools in China, establish a sound research system, and monitoring mechanism to track, monitor, and predict the mental health status of students at all levels of education. Specific work goals include conducting at least one major activity each academic year covering the psychological health status of students in the provincial regions.
## Optimization Process – Avoiding Superficial Solutions
Since the release of the document “Several Opinions on Strengthening Mental Health Education in Primary and Secondary Schools” by the Ministry of Education in August 1999, the mental health issues in primary and secondary schools have gradually gained widespread attention from the society. However, despite such attention, the incidence rate of mild to moderate mental health issues among students has not shown a declining trend, and the issue of early-onset depression and mild depression among students has become more prominent. This indicates that the actual addressing of mental health in primary and secondary schools regarding assessment locations, methods, and technical aspects is not satisfactory. The lack of effective intervention methods for students at a high risk of mental health problems poses a risk of ineffectiveness in the specialized actions. Thus, it calls for further attention, assistance, and support from the government and society.
The main issues currently existing are: a lack of recognition of the importance of mental health education in schools, the use of crude methods, and the overall need for improvement in the professional quality of practitioners. The quality levels of mental health education courses in most schools vary widely, and the shortage in the ratio of psychological health teachers and their professional growth poses challenges. In July 2021, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued a notice requiring each primary and secondary school to have at least one full-time psychological health teacher. However, in reality, most primary and secondary schools lack sufficient full-time psychological health teachers. Part-time psychological teachers constitute the main force in the current workforce. It is not uncommon to see one psychological teacher responsible for thousands of students. While documents indicate that full-time psychological health teachers should have equivalent working experience as class teachers, there appears to be a failure in implementation, leading to drawbacks in terms of career advancement and income compared to class teachers and other professional teachers.
For some psychological health teachers, the lack of professional knowledge and skills results in low-quality activities and limited effectiveness when working as part-time teachers. In the current environment where student mental health issues are gaining increasing attention, continual learning and updating of professional knowledge are necessary for them to perform their duties effectively.
## Intelligent Screening – Broadened Participation
Student mental health assessments have high privacy requirements. Due to drawbacks such as poor compliance in family assessments and significant parental involvement, it is more suitable for this work to be conducted as an activity organized by schools. The recommended technical approach involves the combined use of a “Campus Mental Health Assessment Workstation” and a “Multimodal Mental Stress Assessment Analysis System.”
The Campus Mental Health Assessment Workstation is a group mental health evaluation system based on neuroscience design. It integrates the assessment of mental stress levels using the Symptom Checklist (SCL) combined with electroencephalogram monitoring (EEG) for intelligent quantification, reflecting multiple aspects, such as stress, emotions, cognition, self-control, and identifying risks of depression and anxiety. The workstation can be equipped with multiple testing terminals allowing simultaneous testing of multiple individuals, particularly designed for initial screening of student groups to significantly improve assessment efficiency and coverage. This not only helps schools, teachers, and parents better understand students’ mental conditions but also provides robust data support for schools to detect potential mental issues early and implement timely intervention measures. See the diagram below for more details.
The advantages of the workstation include comprehensive assessment using various scales to understand individual psychological states, combining brainwave analysis techniques to delve into brain activity patterns, monitoring heart rate variability to assess stress responses, enabling multiple simultaneous tests to enhance efficiency, providing multidimensional comprehensive assessment through physiological and psychological data integration, and employing AI for enhanced accuracy in assessment.
The Multimodal Mental Stress Analysis System is a tool developed for psychological teachers and experts. It conducts signal analysis based on heart rate variability and pulse theory, combined with psychological stress scales and EEG monitoring, enabling a multimodal intelligent quantification assessment of stress, the autonomic nervous system, and peripheral vascular status. This multidimensional index helps individuals gain better insights into their psychological state.
The Multimodal Mental Stress Analyzer is an assessment device used for heart rate variability examination, psychological stress index evaluation, autonomic nervous system balance check (functional state assessment), peripheral vascular and blood circulation checks, assessing mental pressure, emotional states, cognition, memory, and self-control. It serves as an early warning indicator and objective assessment for populations with psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety.
See the diagram below for more details.
## Multi-Faceted Collaboration – Building the Society Together
In 2021, the Ministry of Education, in conjunction with four other departments, issued the “Opinions on Strengthening and Improving School Health and Health Education Work in the New Era,” proposing that by 2025, the new era school health and health education work pattern involving government leadership, departmental cooperation, school implementation, and societal participation will be more refined. It advocates for the implementation of physical health monitoring, conducting annual physical health tests for students, triennial compulsory national health monitoring during the mandatory education stage, and a nationwide physical health monitoring and research every five years. The establishment of health education centers in schools, integration of internal and external resources to enhance health education capabilities, provision of high-quality health education services, encouragement of social funds and public welfare institutions to support school health education, and creating more investment channels are also emphasized. The strengthening of psychological counseling rooms in schools for early warning and intervention initiatives is encouraged.
The “Action Plan” further specifies that the work concerning student mental health should be part of the evaluation of provincial governments in fulfilling their educational responsibilities, included in the overall planning for school reform and development, incorporated into the talent training system and supervision evaluation index system, and deemed an important content for assessing the educational level and leadership team of various levels and types of schools.
With less than 18 months until the realization of the aforementioned goals, the government needs to introduce corresponding policies to encourage and support active participation of societal forces in student mental health service work. For instance, the “Campus Mental Health Assessment Workstation” and the “Multimodal Mental Stress Assessment Analysis System” mentioned above were independently developed by the Huishampu Medical System Co., Ltd. in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, as suitable technological equipment for assessing students’ mental and psychological needs. To support the implementation of this work, Huishampu is willing to engage in diversified cooperation tailored to each school’s specific circumstances. Presently, the relevant technical equipment has been tested experimentally at the Qinhuangdao Mental Health Association and the Qinhuangdao Branch of Northeastern University, showing positive results. The research has gained significant attention from the Chinese Psychological Health Association.
