Mental Health Interventions for University Students: A Scoping Review

1. Introduction

Mental health among university students has become a focus of attention because of the rising prevalence of anxiety disorders, depression, sleep disturbances, academic stress, and emotional exhaustion, which highlights the need for interventions that improve students' learning and overall functioning at university.

As García-Pérez et al. [1] report, evidence on physical activity, psychological interventions, cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness, educational programs, digital interventions, mind-body therapy (yoga, tai chi, and qigong), and socioemotional skills training is associated with improvements in depression and anxiety outcomes, being highly effective in reducing symptoms and contributing to overall well-being. Effects on stress appear more variable and may reflect improvements in stress resilience, coping capacity, and stress-management skills [2]. In addition, evidence suggests that these interventions can effectively reduce common mental health difficulties among students [3].

More effective strategies for mental health interventions are needed, such as promoting digital interventions targeted at the university community [4]. Health literacy interventions with interactive and technological components were more effective [5]. These could serve as a low-intensity first line of care within stepped-care models, particularly for students with mild-to-moderate symptoms or barriers to in-person care [6].

Mental health interventions should be addressed comprehensively. Observational evidence from Solomou et al. [7] links a healthy diet with better mental health and lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress in university students. Mindfulness-based interventions reduce symptoms of mental health disorders in university students [8], as do cognitive-behavioral therapy interventions, which reduce depression, anxiety, and stress, reinforcing a comprehensive approach [9].

These interventions could be an effective alternative to address the challenges and obstacles that university students currently face when seeking help for their mental health problems [10]. Human guidance can be beneficial for addressing the severity of depressive symptoms; however, fully automated interventions may be sufficient to achieve a reduction in symptom severity [11].

Multiple interventions are aimed at improving university students' mental health; however, the evidence is variable in its characteristics, modalities, and outcomes, which makes it difficult to understand the overall available landscape.

In mental health, interventions should integrate the active participation of the student, family, health professionals, and educators, as indicated by experience-based design [12]. The factors that influence students' mental health and well-being offer the possibility of identifying strategies that improve their capacity to face the challenges of higher education [13].

Based on the foregoing, the objective of this study was to map the available evidence on mental health interventions targeted at university students evaluated through randomized controlled trials.

2. Materials and Methods

A scoping review was conducted following the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology and the PRISMA-ScR guideline recommendations. The literature search was performed in the PubMed database using the following strategy: ("Mental Health"[Mesh] OR "mental health"[Title/Abstract]) AND (universit*[Title/Abstract] OR "college student*"[Title/Abstract] OR "university student*"[Title/Abstract] OR undergraduate*[Title/Abstract]) AND (intervention*[Title/Abstract] OR program*[Title/Abstract] OR training[Title/Abstract] OR education[Title/Abstract]) AND (Randomized Controlled Trial[Publication Type] OR random*[Title/Abstract]), including studies published up to August 5, 2026, and restricted with the "Randomized Controlled Trial" filter.

Randomized controlled trials of mental health interventions were included, excluding reviews, observational studies, protocols, editorials, and conference abstracts. ESN performed study selection by reading titles and abstracts according to the established selection criteria.

The analysis was performed in Python (pandas, matplotlib, Biopython), automatically extracting abstracts from PubMed and applying descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) to characterize the intervention, design, country, and publication period of the studies.

As this was a review of previously published literature with no direct intervention in human subjects, approval by an institutional ethics committee was not required.

3. Results

The PubMed search retrieved 2,013 initial records. Of these, 606 reports were retrieved and assessed for eligibility. Of these, 362 were excluded, while 244 studies met the inclusion criteria and were incorporated into the review (see Figure 1).

Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of the 244 included studies. Most were published between 2024 and 2026 (41.8%). Geographically, the largest scientific output came from China (n = 64) and the United States (n = 57), followed by Australia (n = 25) and the United Kingdom (n = 20).

Figure 2 shows the distribution of the intervention types identified. Digital interventions (apps, web, or online platforms) were the most frequent (n = 72), followed by mindfulness-based interventions (n = 62) and psychological therapy/counseling (n = 49). Educational programs (n = 38), physical activity (n = 32), and cognitive-behavioral therapy (n = 25) were also identified, while the remaining modalities were less frequent.

The three studies with the largest sample sizes were Freeman et al. (2017, n = 3,755), Wu et al. (2026, n = 2,263), and Vereschagin et al. (2024, n = 1,489) (see Table 2).

4. Discussion

By mapping the available evidence on mental health interventions targeted at university students evaluated through randomized controlled trials, the findings revealed a wide diversity of strategies aimed at improving the psychological well-being of this population, highlighting mainly digital interventions, mindfulness-based interventions, psychological interventions, educational programs, and physical activity.

This study supports the findings of Zhan et al. [14] in their systematic review and meta-analysis, which found that digital health interventions are effective in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression, highlighting their potential to promote mental health among university students.

Digital interventions do not refer to the widespread use of electronic devices, but rather to structured technological tools designed to promote mental health through evidence-based psychological strategies. The Minder app was shown to be effective in reducing anxiety and depression symptoms [15].

This study also supports the findings of Roy et al. [2], who reported that mindfulness-based interventions are effective in improving university students' mental health, particularly with regard to depression and anxiety.

We also agree with Donnelly et al. [16] that interventions involving moderate-to-vigorous physical activity are the most effective, such as aerobics, dance, basketball, and running, which are among the five most frequent interventions. Other studies support that higher physical activity is associated with a lower likelihood of depressive symptoms among university students [17].

In contrast, other interventions suggest that integrating artistic and cognitive approaches appears to be a particularly effective strategy for the simultaneous management of both conditions [18].

Mental health service utilization increased considerably between 2007 and 2017 [19], and a similar increase in research interest in mental health interventions is observed for the 2024–2026 period.

To achieve effective implementation of these interventions, we recommend that universities in low- and middle-income countries gradually incorporate them into their curricula to ensure accessibility and sustainability, and integrate mental health interventions (MHIs) into their student support programs [20].

Among the limitations of this study is the use of a single database (PubMed), which may have limited the identification of relevant studies available in other databases. In addition, the exclusive inclusion of randomized controlled trials may have reduced the diversity of the evidence identified. Selection based mainly on titles and abstracts, together with the absence of a second independent reviewer, may have increased the risk of selection bias. As a strength, this review made it possible to map the wide variety of mental health interventions targeted at university students and to characterize their main modalities, as well as their temporal and geographic distribution.

5. Conclusion

Mental health interventions for university students encompass diverse modalities, with digital, mindfulness-based, psychological, educational, and physical-activity interventions standing out, supporting the importance of a comprehensive approach to mental health in the university context.