Financial Stress and Mental Health among Higher Education Students in the United Kingdom up to 2018: a Rapid Review of Evidence

Introduction: In the UK, as in many other high-income countries, debt due to higher education has increased substantially in recent decades. For example, as of 2018, the average student in England will have accrued £50,000 of debt upon university completion. The prevalence of common mental health problems has also increased, alongside these increased financial pressures. However, it is as yet unclear whether there is an association between financial stress and mental health among higher education students. / Methods: We conducted a rapid review of the peer-reviewed scientific literature to examine the links between indicators of financial stress and mental health among university students in the UK. Studies were located through a systematic search of Psychinfo, Pubmed and Embase up to November 2018. Eligible studies were English-language publications testing the association between any indicator of financial stress and mental health among higher education students in the United Kingdom. / Results: The search strategy above yielded 1,272 studies, from which only 9 met the inclusion criteria. A further two studies were identified through hand-searching. Financial indicators included amount of debt, experience of financial difficulties and financial concerns/debt worry. There was little evidence that debt level was associated with mental health—only 3 of 7 studies found an association in the expected direction between higher debt and worse mental health. Evidence was more consistent for a cross-sectional relationship between subjective measures of financial difficulty (7 of 7 studies) and debt worry/financial concern (4 of 5 studies) with worse mental health, though longitudinal evidence was very limited. / Conclusion: Among higher education students in the UK, there is little evidence that the amount of debt is associated with mental health, while subjective measures of higher financial stress are more consistently associated with worse mental health outcomes. The identified evidence was judged to be weak due to uncertain study generalisability, and the potential for bias due to common causes of financial stress and mental health outcomes (confounders). Thus, further research is required to examine whether links between financial stress and mental health outcomes are robust and causal in nature

Campus & alumni news

Boston University Medicine was published by the Boston University Medical Campus, and presented stories on events and topics of interest to members of the BU Medical Campus community. It followed the discontinued publication Centerscope as Boston University Medicine from 1991-2005, then continued as Campus & Alumni News from 2006-2013 before returning to the title Boston University Medicine from 2014-present

Teacher Utilization of A Middle School Media Program: A Case Study

The goal of this research study was to determine the effectiveness of the media center within the school environment. The components of the media center program that should be strengthened were identified. The role of the media center, teachers, and staff in facilitating media center goals and objectives were evaluated. Permission to survey teachers of the Lemmel Middle School was granted by the assistant Superintendent of Planning and Research. The letter of introduction, the questionnaire, directions for completing the questionnaire, and self-addressed, return envelopes were placed in the teachers\u27 mailboxes. To facilitate in the processing of the questionnaires, the data were coded and placed onto a sheet that was ruled into columns. Each column showed how each respondent answered certain areas of the questionnaire. The questionnaire included three areas of concentration: and materials. Utilization, planning, and facilities Respondents, using a five-point rating scale, were asked to indicate preferences for all items under each of the three areas. The results of the sign test indicated if there were two conditions different for related samples. The mean scores and the standard deviation for each question listed under the utilization area were presented in table 1. Further, a second sign test indicated the results of teachers\u27 preferences for audiovisual equipment or materials. In general, the results that were either descriptive or quantitative were grouped and summarized in tabular form. In conclusion, an effective school media program, stated by the American Association of School Librarians (1988: 21), must depend on an educational partnership between teachers and media specialist. With the cooperative efforts of these partners, the classroom teacher and media specialist can provide successful learning experiences for students. The success of an effective school media program must incorporate all partners that contribute to the educational process within the school. The school media program should contribute to the educational process and provide the appropriate learning resources and services. An abundance of learning activities should provide for individual and group learning experience. Recommended: It is therefore That the results of this study first focus on the range of weaknesses within the media center program. That the strategies for improving the inadequate areas of the program be outlined. That the results be available for the director of library media services to promote a broader research endeavor that can benefit school media programs. This approach might be valuable to teachers, administrators, media supervisors, and media specialists in building an awareness of how to utilize an effective media center

Financial stress and mental health among higher education students in the UK up to 2018: rapid review of evidence

Introduction In the United Kingdom and many other countries, debt accrued during higher education has increased substantially in recent decades. The prevalence of common mental health problems has also increased alongside these changes. However, it is as yet unclear whether there is an association between financial stress and mental health among higher education students. Methods We conducted a rapid review of the peerreviewed scientific literature. Eligible studies were English-language publications testing the association between any indicator of financial stress and mental health among higher education students in the UK. Papers were located through a systematic search of PsychINFO, PubMed and Embase up to November 2018. Results The search strategy yielded 1272 studies—9 met the inclusion criteria. A further two were identified through hand-searching. The median sample size was 408. Only three of seven studies found an association between higher debt and worse mental health. There was a consistent cross-sectional relationship between worse mental health and both experience of financial difficulties (seven of seven studies) and debt worry/financial concern (four of five studies), though longitudinal evidence was mixed and limited to six studies. Conclusion Among higher education students in the UK, there is little evidence that the amount of debt is associated with mental health. However, more subjective measures of increased financial stress were more consistently associated with worse mental health outcomes. Nevertheless, the identified evidence was judged to be weak; further research is required to examine whether links between financial stress and mental health outcomes are robust and causal in nature

Effectiveness of a Mobile App Intervention for Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in University Students: Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Depression and anxiety symptoms are common among university students, but many do not receive treatment. This is often because of lack of availability, reluctance to seek help, and not meeting the diagnostic criteria required to access services. Internet-based interventions, including smartphone apps, can overcome these issues. However, a large number of apps are available, each with little evidence of their effectiveness. / Objective: This study aims to evaluate for the first time the effectiveness of a self-guided mobile app, Feel Stress Free, for the treatment of depression and anxiety symptoms in students. / Methods: A web-based randomized controlled trial compared a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)–based mobile app Feel Stress Free with a wait-list control. University students self-identified as experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression and were randomized to 6 weeks of intervention (n=84) or control (n=84), unblinded. The app is self-guided and incorporates behavioral relaxation activities, mood tracking and thought challenging, and minigames. Participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale online at baseline and every fortnight. / Results: At week 6, the primary end point, there was evidence that the Feel Stress Free app reduced depression symptoms (mean difference −1.56; 95% CI −2.67 to −0.44; P=.006) but only very weak evidence that it reduced anxiety symptoms (mean difference −1.36; 95% CI −2.93 to 0.21; P=.09). At week 4, there was evidence to support the effectiveness of the intervention for anxiety symptoms (mean difference −1.94; 95% CI −3.11 to −0.77; P=.001) and, though weaker, depression symptoms (mean difference −1.08; 95% CI −2.12 to −0.04; P=.04). At week 6, 83% (34/41) of participants indicated that they were using the app weekly or more frequently. / Conclusions: The Feel Stress Free app is a promising mobile intervention for treating symptoms of anxiety and depression in students and overcomes many of the barriers to traditional CBT. Further research is needed to establish its effectiveness at and beyond 6 weeks. / Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03032952; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT0303295

An investigation of a stoppable helicopter rotor with circulation control

A stoppable helicopter rotor with circulation control was investigated in the Ames 40 by 80 foot wind tunnel. The model was tested as a rotating wing, a fixed wing, and during transition start/stop sequences. The capability of the model's control system to maintain pitch and roll moment balance during the start/stop sequence, the ability of the blades to withstand the start/stop loads, the adequacy of the control system to maintain balance in the helicopter mode, and the control system capabilities in the fixed-wind mode were assessed. Time-history data of several start/stop sequences of the X-wing rotor, and the steady-state data relating to the model as both a rotor and as a fixed-wing aircraft are presented. In addition, stability data are presented which were acquired during open-loop and closed-loop tests of the hub moment feedback control system

Higher education and mental health: analyses of the LSYPE cohorts

The aim of our research project was to improve our understanding of common mental health problems in young people who attend higher education, compared with those who do not. We investigated: • whether there were differences in symptoms of common mental disorder between these groups; • how these differences changed over time and what might drive them; and • whether the mental health of higher education students compared with the general population has changed during the past decade. We conducted analyses of two large nationally representative cohort studies: the Longitudinal Studies of Young People In England (LSYPE). Both studies started when young people were 13/14 years of age. LSYPE1, known to participants as Next Steps, started in 2004 and LSYPE2, known to participants as Our Future, started in 2013

Scaling Relations of Viscous Fingers in Anisotropic Hele-Shaw Cells

Viscous fingers in a channel with surface tension anisotropy are numerically studied. Scaling relations between the tip velocity v, the tip radius and the pressure gradient are investigated for two kinds of boundary conditions of pressure, when v is sufficiently large. The power-law relations for the anisotropic viscous fingers are compared with two-dimensional dendritic growth. The exponents of the power-law relations are theoretically evaluated.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Quasiperiodic Tip Splitting in Directional Solidification

We report experimental results on the tip splitting dynamics of seaweed growth in directional solidification of succinonitrile alloys with poly(ethylene oxide) or acetone as solutes. The seaweed or dense branching morphology was selected by solidifying grains which are oriented close to the {111} plane. Despite the random appearance of the growth, a quasiperiodic tip splitting morphology was observed in which the tip alternately splits to the left and to the right. The tip splitting frequency f was found to be related to the growth velocity V as a power law f V^{1.5}. This finding is consistent with the predictions of a tip splitting model that is also presented. Small anisotropies are shown to lead to different kinds of seaweed morphologies.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Jet Bundles in Quantum Field Theory: The BRST-BV method

The geometric interpretation of the Batalin-Vilkovisky antibracket as the Schouten bracket of functional multivectors is examined in detail. The identification is achieved by the process of repeated contraction of even functional multivectors with fermionic functional 1-forms. The classical master equation may then be considered as a generalisation of the Jacobi identity for Poisson brackets, and the cohomology of a nilpotent even functional multivector is identified with the BRST cohomology. As an example, the BRST-BV formulation of gauge fixing in theories with gauge symmetries is reformulated in the jet bundle formalism. (Hopefully this version will be TeXable)Comment: 26 page