Healthy Learning Environments, Stress Management and Mental Health in Higher Education Students

Educational institutions contribute to the well-being, health and performance of students. The aim of this study is to assess the mental health and well-being needs of higher education students by studying the healthy learning environment and its relationship with students’ mental health, and to understand the role of stress management skills in promoting mental health and healthier adjustment. The study used the Ecosystems of Healthy Learning Environments (EA2S) instrument and involved 521 students, 359 (69.4 %) of whom were female. Regarding the age of the students, 26.2 % were aged up to 19 (n=127), 64.3 % between 20 and 30 (n=311), 4.1 % between 31 and 40 (n=20) and 5.4 % 41 or over (n=26). The EA2S instrument consists of a total of 62 items organized into 9 dimensions. A moderation mediation model was carried out in order to understand the relationship between a healthy learning environment and students’ mental health and the mediating role of stress management skills in this relationship. We found that there is a relationship between a healthy learning environment and students’ mental health, and that this relationship is effectively mediated by stress management skills. The study refers to a multidomain intervention with the aim of promoting psychological health, well-being and skills, academic engagement and preventing higher education students from dropping out of school, through the development of psychological intervention, prevention and health promotion activities and training based on scientific evidence.