Since 1996, the Psychological Counsellors in Higher Education in Ireland association (PCHEI) has collected statistics about the student population who attend student counselling services, from participating Higher Education Institutions (HEI), via an annual survey. These statistics have been used to create the National Student Counselling Service Database (NSCSD).
The aim of the NSCSD is to provide national statistics to HEIs and mental health practitioners, while establishing a source for evidence-based research on students' mental health. The NSCSD provides the opportunity to identify trends in the whole student population nationally, and also allows HEI Counselling Services to have access to annual national reports. This enhances the engagement of Counselling Services with research on student mental health in a meaningful way.
Overall, the database will benefit the Irish Higher Education student body by supporting the identification of general trends in the student body which can then inform service provision.
With student consent, the SCS would like to contribute the following pseudonymised data:
- Demographic Information, such as age, course type, gender, country of domicile, ethnicity, living arrangements, presenting concerns, etc.
- The data created by counselling staff in regard to appointment types and presenting issues.
TU Dublin Student Counselling Services Participant Information Sheet for the National Student Counselling Service Database
Since 1996, the Psychological Counsellors in Higher Education in Ireland association (PCHEI) has collected statistics about the student population who attend student counselling services, from participating Higher Education Institutions (HEI), via an annual survey. However, in order to identify national trends and develop effective interventions for the student body, a standardised aggregate sectoral approach to data collection is needed.
The aim of the National Student Counselling Service Database (NSCSD) is to provide national statistics and establish a source for evidence-based research on students' mental health. The NSCSD will provide the opportunity to identify trends in the whole student population nationally. It will also allow services to have access to annual national reports for HEI Counselling Services and enhance their engagement with research on student mental health in a meaningful way.
Overall, the database will benefit the Irish Higher Education student body and the Irish society at large, through improvement of student counselling services and evidence-based mental health research.
To do this, the NSCSD collects pseudonymised data from Irish HEI student counselling services on a regular basis.
From September 2024 onwards, TU Dublin Student Counselling Services (SCS) will contribute data to the Irish National Student Counselling Services database with the goal of improving services and expanding our current knowledge about student mental health.
With your consent, the SCS would like to contribute the following pseudonymised data:
- Demographic Information, such as age, course type, gender, country of domicile, ethnicity, living arrangements, presenting concerns, etc.
- The data created by counselling staff in regard to appointment types and presenting issues.
The collected data will be pseudonymised, encrypted and transferred securely to the NSCSD. Confidentiality and data protection are of utmost importance to all parties involved with the NSCSD.
You can withdraw consent for your information to be pseudonymised and transferred to the database at any time until the 15th of July of the current academic year, after which point all data will be transferred. To withdraw consent, contact counselling.services@tudublin.ie or call 086 082 0543.