Observatory on Student Mental Health in Higher Education

1. CONTEXT

In Québec and around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing mental health issues in all areas of life. To address this situation, and to ensure that the educational experiences and environments of students in higher education are conducive to positive mental health, in 2021 the Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur (MES) rolled out an action plan for student mental health in higher education  2021-2026 (Plan d’action sur la santé mentale étudiante en enseignement supérieur 2021-2026 or PASME).

The objective of PASME is to provide higher education institutions with common guidelines for mental health and to support the expansion and diversification of the offer of promotion, prevention and psychosocial support services. As such, the proposed measures aim to provide a response to the diverse needs of the student population and to ensure equitable access to available services. Educational institutions offer a variety of assistance and support measures, both pedagogical and psychosocial, but, until now, such actions were undertaken solely on the initiative of the institution. As a means to help achieve these goals, Measure 1.1 of the PASME—“Provide the higher education network with common guidelines for student mental health”—led to the publication of a reference framework on student mental health in January 2022, which identifies a range of good and promising practices. Together, these two documents serve to harmonize activities and services in the higher education network.

Measure 1.4 – “Ensure consistency and complementarity of actions between the education network and the health and social services network”, and Measure 4.2 – “Encourage the creation of service corridors between higher education institutions, the health and social services network and community organizations” are similarly intended to help equip institutions with common practices. These measures seek to facilitate the improvement of existing agreements and the signature of new service agreements between the various partners. They also aim to establish collaboration mechanisms with external partners, such as the health and social services network and community organizations.

Collaboration mechanisms with external partners, such as the health and social services network and community organizations, can be variable and depend on the characteristics and issues specific to each region, particularly when it comes to access to mental health services.

To respond to the diverse needs of the student population and ensure equitable access to available services, it is essential to agree on common guidelines to be put in place, in collaboration with higher education institutions and in keeping with their autonomy and individual characteristics. These guidelines should be inspired by evidence-based best practice. In this regard, there is currently little data available for monitoring the evolution of mental health in Québec student communities. Research and knowledge development in the area of student mental health are essential for the creation of institutional and national policies and the implementation of effective prevention and intervention programs. It is also necessary to assess programs, measures, and services to ensure that the means put in place not only respond to the needs of the student population, but also meet institutions’ expectations. Better networking between the research and intervention communities, as well as articulation and cooperation between educational institutions, will contribute to improving practices and thus to changing the culture of student mental health in higher education.

One way to do this is to support research and the dissemination of knowledge on the mental health of college and university student communities through the creation of a Mental Health Observatory. Scientific research is the cornerstone of the development and adoption of innovative promotion, awareness, prevention, and intervention practices for members of the student community. It offers mental health practitioners promising avenues for supporting students in ways that respect their needs and characteristics. In addition, the widespread dissemination of research results raises awareness among the entire college and university community and contributes to combatting the stigmatization of people living with mental health problems. Moreover, the diversification of study subjects and populations makes it possible to develop specific knowledge adapted to the diverse needs of students.

The MES has therefore called on the FRQ to launch a call for proposals for the creation of this Observatory. The initiatives developed by the Observatory must be for the benefit of the student population in higher education, for all regions of Québec.

2. OBJECTIVES

The main objective in creating this Observatory is to support the development, acquisition and transfer of knowledge on student mental health. The Observatory will bring together expertise in the field, carry out research projects, and disseminate knowledge within higher education networks. Through their knowledge mobilization strategy, the Observatory’s researchers will be able to inform and support higher education institutions in the implementation of their institutional policies relating to student mental health, creating a link between research and practice settings.

Proposals submitted under this call for proposals must meet each of the following objectives, without duplicating existing initiatives in this field, either in Québec, nationally or internationally. In addition, some of the objectives must be complementary to the Initiative sur la santé mentale étudiante en enseignement supérieur (consult the ISMÉES*- Appendix 1 document in the Toolbox- French only).

1. Surveillance and monitoring

1. Provide surveillance and monitoring by continuously documenting evidence-based best practices, trends, and new knowledge on student mental health in Québec, Canada and internationally

2. Research and knowledge development

1. Conduct research projects on student mental health in higher education that take into account the heterogeneity of students’ experiences and life paths including consideration of specific vulnerabilities, and may integrate qualitative and/or quantitative approaches. These projects may focus on, but are not limited to, different research topics such as prevention, interventions, development of technological tools, learning environments and contexts
2. Design and conduct a periodic national survey on student mental health in higher education to assess its evolution over time. The Observatory must determine the indicators and variables to be included in the survey and will be responsible for its implementation. The survey must include at least 2 measurement periods within the grant period. The results at each measurement period must be presented at a follow-up meeting. At the end of the survey, the Observatory will produce a full research report with a detailed presentation of the survey results

3. Training

1. Provide students with a rich and diverse environment in order to contribute to the training of the next generation of researchers in mental health and related fields

4. Knowledge mobilization

1. Support decision-making and inform public policy with a view to improving practice
2. Disseminate knowledge in higher education networks and promote its uptake by various stakeholders
3. Share the most recent knowledge in the field of student mental health, arising from both research and practice, with all actors in Québec’s higher education system to promote its uptake by the different stakeholders
4. Create guides and tools on various themes, taking into account, but not limited to, differences at the college and university levels, fields of study, and certain sub-populations (such as disabled students, first-generation higher education students, Indigenous or ethnic minority students, young people not in employment, education or training (NEET), members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, student parents)

CROSS-CUTTING NEEDS:

The Observatory’s programming should make it possible to capture the diversity of Québec’s student populations and their specific needs (college or university, areas covered by the three Fonds de recherche, local realities (urban and regional)).

The Observatory’s governance structure must be representative of the various stakeholders in accordance with its objectives. To have an impact on improving student mental health, the inclusion of students in the Observatory’s governance is essential to help determine its orientations. Furthermore, the Observatory should be unifying, inclusive and bring together a diversity of disciplinary expertise in the field of student mental health in higher education in order to become a key player and have a sustainable impact.

*Those interested in submitting a proposal for this competition are asked to contact Catherine Roy-Boulanger (catherine.roy-boulanger@uquebec.ca) at ISMÉES to ensure the complementarity of the proposed activities and to define the nature and content of the planned collaborations.

3. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Conditions

The team of researchers comprising the Observatory on Student Mental Health in Higher Education must be represented by :

• A minimum of 6 higher education institutions covering different regions of Quebec, including at least 2 college-level institutions

The Observatory will be directed by :

• Two (2) principals investigators with Statuses 1, 2 or 3 as described in the CGR who will assume the direction of the Observatory; one of these two people will be responsible for submitting the application for the entire team
  • One (1) Principal investigator with expertise in the health field
  • One (1) Principal investigator with expertise in social and human sciences
• Co-Investigators with Statuses 1, 2, 3 as described in the CGR, to assume responsibility for the different axes that will be proposed by the team
• Co-Investigators with Statuses 1, 2, 3 or 4 as described in the CGR to complete the team
• There is no limit to the number of co-investigators who can join the team
• All these people will be responsible for the development and implementation of the programming

Addition of collaborators:

People can join the team as collaborators. These people can, among other things, be members of the Observatory.

Non-eligible:

However, individuals meeting the status-in-training as defined by the CGRs are not eligible for a Co-Investigator or Collaborator role. There is no limit to the number of collaborators.

Clarifications in relation to the statutes 4c), 4d) and 4e) :

• The involvement of practice settings, status 4c), artists, status 4d), or individual contributors, status 4e), if relevant, must be specified in the proposal.

IMPORTANT :

Members of the student community should be involved in the development of the Observatory, the preparation of the proposal, the Observatory’s governance, the implementation of its programming, and the operation of the various proposed research axes. The strategy for involving the student community at every stage should be demonstrated in the application.

All team members must adequately demonstrate their active collaboration in the establishment of the Mental Health Observatory and the initiatives that will be developed, and specify their level of involvement in the team. The inclusion of early-career researchers in the team is an asset.

The people who will use the Observatory’s research infrastructure must not be listed as co-investigators in the application.

Multiple applications

A researcher may submit only one project under this Call for Proposals as a Principal Investigator of the Observatory and a maximum of 2 applications as co-investigators. No maximum for collaborators.

Professional associations/orders

Clinical university researchers must prove that they are members in good standing of the Québec professional order governing them, have a valid license to practice in Québec and have professional liability insurance.

Ethics

All team members must adhere to the rules of responsible research conduct and ethics outlined in the CGR.

Basic training in research ethics

Basic training in research ethics is mandatory for all principal investigators and co-investigators when their research project or program focuses on human subjects.

Research on human subjects involves:

• the participation of human subjects
• the use of human biological material (parts, products, tissues, cells, genetic material from the human body, a living or deceased person)
• assisted reproduction activities or the use of embryos derived there from them, within the meaning of the Act respecting clinical and research activities in relation to assisted reproduction (L.R.Q. chapter A-5.01)
• the use of administrative, scientific or descriptive data from human beings

This basic training consists in the realization of modules 1 and 3 of the online tutorial developed by the Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux (MSSS) as a training program in research ethics. Module 1 is a minimum level of training in research ethics required for all FRQ researchers.

Researchers must have completed this basic training before the start of payments.

4. REQUIRED DOCUMENTS – PROPOSAL

The documents described below must be submitted to the FRQS by the competition deadlines and times. Applications must be submitted using the electronic form available in the FRQnet electronic portfolio of the principal investigator responsible for submitting the application.

• Any document that is missing or does not comply with the rules of the program and electronic forms, but is deemed critical to eligibility or assessment, renders the file ineligible.
• Items required but absent from the file will not be claimed.
• All documents received after the filing date of the proposal will not be considered and an update of the files will not be possible.
• A document not required but transmitted with the proposal will be removed from the file.

No extension will be allowed. Any form not submitted by the indicated deadlines and times will be automatically rejected.

All members of the team must give their consent to be entered on this form. This action must be done in your FRQS electronic Portfolio before the deadline of the managing institution, otherwise the form will not be transmitted. For the creation of a FRQnet account, we invite you to consult the document FRQnet account creation / procedures to follow for co-investigators available in the Toolbox.

Principal investigator

• FRQS electronic proposal form (FRQnet)
• Canadian Common CV (funding CV version for the FRQNT, FRQS or FRQSC (last updated since June 1^st 2021)
• Detailed contributions (last updated since June 1^st 2021) consult the document Instructions for the detailed contributions and the Canadian Common CV – FRQS in the Toolbox for the content of detailed contributions

To be attached in the Other documents section:

• Clinician: a letter from the management of the clinical department or the dean of the faculty specifying how many hours will be freed from their clinical obligations to carry out the research project (only for persons who do not hold a FRQS career scholarship)
• Letter(s) of support from one or more student associations (maximum 1 page per letter)
• Letter(s) of support from the institution(s) with which the principal investigators are affiliated. In these letters of support, the institutions must indicate the type of support, financial or in-kind, that will be provided to the Observatory throughout the period of funding by the FRQ (maximum 2 pages per letter)
• Letter(s) of support from other relevant partners (maximum 1 page per letter)
• Canadian Common CV and detailed contributions from status 4a) co-investigators, if applicable

Co-Director

• Canadian Common CV (funding CV version for the FRQNT, FRQS or FRQSC (last updated since June 1^st 2021)
• Detailed contributions (last updated since June 1^st 2021) consult the document Instructions for the detailed contributions and the Canadian Common CV – FRQS in the Toolbox for the content of detailed contributions
• Clinician: a letter from the management of the clinical department or the dean of the faculty specifying how many hours will be freed from their clinical obligations to carry out the research project (only for persons who do not hold a FRQS career scholarship)

Important : Individuals in status 2 will need to forward their letter from the clinical department chair or dean in PDF format to the principal investigator

Other team member– Second Principal Investigator, co-Investigator statuses 1, 2, 3 et 4a)

• Canadian Common CV (funding CV version for the FRQNT, FRQS or FRQSC (last updated since June 1^st 2021)
• Detailed contributions (last updated since June 1^st 2021) consult the document Instructions for the detailed contributions and the Canadian Common CV – FRQS in the Toolbox for the content of detailed contributions
• Clinician: a letter from the management of the clinical department or the dean of the faculty specifying how many hours will be freed from their clinical obligations to carry out the research project (only for persons who do not hold a FRQS career scholarship)

Important : Individuals in status 2 will need to forward their letter from the clinical department chair or dean in PDF format to the principal investigator

Individuals in 4(a) status will be required to forward their CCVs and detailed contributions in PDF format to the Principal Investigator

Other co-investigator statuses 4b), 4c), 4d) and 4e)

• No document required

5. TERM AND AMOUNT OF THE GRANT

Project funded

1

Maximum amount for Year 1

$ 650 000

Maximum amount for years 2 to 5 of the grant

$ 600 000

Total budget envelope

Maximum $ 2 810 000

Important: despite the maximum amounts allowed per year, please ensure that the sum of the amounts for the 5 years does not exceed the total budget envelope.

Duration

5 years

Indirect research costs (Overhead costs)

A fixed amount of $135,000 will be sent to the managing institution of the principal investigator submitting the application (Statuses 1, 2 and 3)

Management and financing rules

The list of institutions that can manage FRQ awards is limited to FRQ recognized managing institutions. The institution managing the award is generally the employing institution of the award holder (see CGR).

N.B. The institution managing the funding must be that of the principal investigator responsible for submitting the application.

6. ELIGIBLE EXPENDITURE

Eligible

In addition to the eligible expenses listed in Section 8 of the CGR of the FRQ (which you can also consult in the Budget section of the electronic application form), the following expenses are eligible:

Release from teaching duties or salary support for Status 3 researchers:

• College researchers (Status 3, see the CGR) with or without teaching duties who join a research team can receive a release from teaching duties or salary support of up to 20% of their gross salary. This amount must be included in the grant budget.
• The amounts requested must be listed in the Budget section of the electronic form; budget items are provided for this purpose. It is the principal investigator’s responsibility to identify each college co-investigator for whom salary support is requested.
• In the case of a university-level managing institution, this amount must be included in the budget and may be transferred directly to the college institution or the college with which the CCTT is affiliated in the case of a CCTT researcher.

Remuneration of research and administrative staff must comply with the standards in effect at the affiliating institution and take into account benefits and annual salary increases.

Non-eligible

Any expense not listed as an eligible expense in the CGR is considered ineligible unless authorized in the program rules.

Important

Funds cannot not be transferred outside of Québec

7. EVALUATION

Evaluation

Applications will be assessed by a peer committee in accordance with the FRQ rules in effect with regard to evaluation committees.

The evaluation criteria are as follows:

1. Team composition (20%)

1. Excellence of the team’s expertise and quality of scientific leadership demonstrated by all members
2. Diversity and complementarity of team members in terms of expertise and geographic location
3. Quality of the governance plan and integration of different stakeholders representing practice settings, such as institutions and students
4. Quality of institutional support, and of support from relevant partners where applicable
5. Anticipated collaborations

2. Excellence of the programming (35%)

1. Excellence and scientific quality of the proposed strategies, actions and projects, with a view to being at the forefront in responding to current needs and anticipating future needs
2. Alignment of the proposed activities and training with the Observatory’s objectives
3. Demonstration of the Observatory’s complementarity and alignment with existing infrastructures related to the theme and with PASME
4. Potential of the proposal to capture the following different realities:
   1. college and university institutions across Québec
   2. main characteristics of the student populations of each type of institution student populations covering the 3 research sectors of the FRQ (FRQNT, FRQS et FRQSC)
5. Demonstration of specific and mutual benefits for project partners and investigators
6. Quality and diversity of the activities proposed in the programming to train the next generation of students in research

3. Longitudinal survey (20%)

1. Originality and contribution to the advancement of knowledge
2. Clarity of the research problem, relevance of the theoretical approach and precision of the stated objectives
3. Relevance, rigor and rationale of the methodological approach
4. Quality of the design and indicators of the longitudinal survey
5. Feasibility of the time frame and relevance of the monitoring indicators

4. Knowledge mobilization (20%)

1. Scope and quality of the knowledge mobilization strategy for different potential users of the research results, including decision-makers (popularization, uptake and application)
2. Involvement and degree of collaboration of community partners and potential users of the research results
3. Relevance and originality of the tools and guides to be developed

5. Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) (5%)

See the Lignes directrices pour le critère sur l’équité, la diversité et l’inclusion document available in the Toolbox (French only)

1. Implementation of concrete actions to support EDI within the Observatory and its activities
2. Contribution to EDI awareness and training of the Observatory’s experts
3. Consideration of EDI in the development and conduct of the research and in knowledge mobilization.

It should be noted that the evaluation committee could suggest a revision of the budget if it does not appear to be in line with the various activities carried out by the Observatory.

8. RESEARCH OUTCOMES AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Follow-up structure

A follow-up structure involving different parties, including the MES, will be put in place as soon as the grant is awarded. The first meeting between the partners will take place 3 months after the start of the research team’s work.

A minimum of one annual follow-up meeting will be organized by the FRQ. These meetings will be attended by representatives of the MES, among others. The team representing the Observatory will be able to present its results and the steps to come.

The Observatory could also be consulted, outside of the follow-up meetings, by representatives of the MES in order to exchange ideas or as a consultant. This could be discussed at the start-up meeting mentioned above.

A knowledge transfer activity will be jointly organized by the partners following submission of the final report. This activity will bring together the grant holder and the people who participated in the follow-up of the project, as well as potential users of the research results.

The final report will present the main activities carried out by the Observatory. Details on financial reporting requirements will be set out in the grant letter.

Use and dissemination of the results by the partners

Subsidy recipients authorize the funding agencies to use the final report and published research outputs (from a scientific publication, a conference, a seminar, a symposium or a e-publication), notably for reproduction, translation, implementation or public dissemination through whatever means, along with other uses (exchange and sharing between funding agencies). This use will solely be for non-commercial purposes and will comply with copyright legislation
Open Science
In accordance with the FRQ’s open access policy (Politique de diffusion en libre accès des Fonds de recherche du Québec), all awardees will make their scientific publications available in open access in the twelve months after they are published. Go to the FRQ’s open science page for more information.

9. STATEMENT ON EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

The partners seek to contribute to the support a research ecosystem based on equity, diversity and inclusion. The individuals who receive funding are encouraged to prioritize the EDI principles within the context of their research activities. Further details are available in the FRQS’s statements on equity, diversity and inclusion.

10. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Grant holders, and the institutions they are affiliated with, hold all copyrights for the intellectual property with respect to the original raw data, interim research works and funded project results, in keeping with the internal rules pertaining to intellectual property of the institutions.

Furthermore, owing to Oncopole’s mission is to mobilize oncology resources in Québec and federating vision, copyright holders from funded projects, including the institutions involved, are expected to remain involved and update Oncopole so the results of the co-funded projects become instrumental to the pursuit of Oncopole’s objectives, with the ultimate goal that each project will serve Québec society.

11. PARTNERS

• Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur
• Fonds de recherche du Québec