Current Practices and Future Directions of Accommodating Students with Mental Health Needs
in Higher Education Institutions
Dr. Young Kim
Abstract:
Purpose: After having experienced Coronavirus pandemic, many people around the world
started to face lots of new issues and to see outdated issues with different perspectives. One of
them is mental health issues. This has been an issue for a long time, however, it started to impact
our classroom in higher education institutions more severely. Therefore, the purpose the study is
to present best practices of accommodating students with mental health needs in higher
education institutions and to discuss how we can better accommodate these students via literature
review.
Design/methodology/approach: The author conducted literature review. The author mainly
used database Eric, EBSCO, and Academic Search Ultimate using keywords accommodations,
higher education institutions, mental health needs, and psychological issues. Any articles
published before 2000 were excluded from the search. This review was more focused on
accommodating students with mental health issues, rather than other disabilities. After
generating about 15 articles related to this topic, the author conducted thematic analysis.
Finding: Four themes were emerged via thematic analysis: 1) how faculty are responding and
accommodating students with mental health issues in the classroom, 2) how universities are
responding to this issue, 3) what students with mental health needs are experiencing in higher
education institutions, & 4) how professionals discuss this issue. This study showed 1) many
faculty feel limited resources and lack of understanding of accommodating students with mental
health issues, 2) DSS (Disability Support Services) office has been offering same options of
accommodations for students with mental health needs as other students with disabilities, 3)
students with mental health issues often do not report to DSS or counseling services and 4) UDL
(Universal Design for Learning) for students with mental health needs has been suggested in
accommodating students with mental health needs. The meaning of UDL for students with
mental health needs are discussed.
Originality/Value: This study will present implications to university faculty who want to
accommodate students with mental health needs in the classroom more effectively. Additionally,
higher education administrators will have better understanding of accommodating students with
mental health issues in every aspects of their college lives via this study.
Keywords: Psychological disabilities, Mental Health, Higher Education Institutions, Psychiatric
issues, Invisible Disabilities, DSS, Universal Design for Learning, and Accommodations