Psychological and Mental Health Support for Vietnamese University Students in Economics Majors: Approaches and Needs Assessment

TL;DR

This study explores mental health challenges among Vietnamese economics students and identifies the need for professional psychological support and digital counseling platforms.

Contribution

The study provides discipline-specific evidence on mental health needs of Vietnamese economics students and proposes tailored institutional interventions.

Findings

Students commonly experience anxiety due to academic workload, financial instability, and career uncertainty.

Preferred mental health support includes professional counseling and digital platforms aligned with youth habits.

Findings highlight the need for integrating career guidance with emotional regulation interventions to prevent depression and social withdrawal.

Abstract

Public health relevance—How does this work relate to a public health issue?
This study addresses a pressing public health concern in Vietnam: the high prevalence of psychological distress among university students, driven by academic workload, financial instability, family expectations, and career uncertainty.It demonstrates that unmet needs for professional and confidential psychological support within universities represent a significant gap in the current mental health response system.

This study addresses a pressing public health concern in Vietnam: the high prevalence of psychological distress among university students, driven by academic workload, financial instability, family expectations, and career uncertainty.

It demonstrates that unmet needs for professional and confidential psychological support within universities represent a significant gap in the current mental health response system.

Public health significance—Why is this work of significance to public health?
Using a mixed-methods cross-sectional design with 701 respondents from multiple economics-oriented universities across three regions, the research provides robust and discipline-specific evidence on students’ support needs.The findings enhance international and national discoverability of Vietnamese student mental health patterns and offer reliable material that can be cited by other scholars in educational and community health fields.

Using a mixed-methods cross-sectional design with 701 respondents from multiple economics-oriented universities across three regions, the research provides robust and discipline-specific evidence on students’ support needs.

The findings enhance international and national discoverability of Vietnamese student mental health patterns and offer reliable material that can be cited by other scholars in educational and community health fields.

Public health implications—What are the key implications or messages for practitioners, policy makers and/or researchers in public health?
Results call for institutionalized periodic screening, expansion of individual counseling services, and the development of low-threshold digital counseling platforms aligned with youth habits.Integrating career guidance with academic skills mentoring and emotional regulation interventions is identified as the key message for practitioners and policy makers to prevent escalation to depression, social withdrawal, and reduced learning motivation.

Results call for institutionalized periodic screening, expansion of individual counseling services, and the development of low-threshold digital counseling platforms aligned with youth habits.

Integrating career guidance with academic skills mentoring and emotional regulation interventions is identified as the key message for practitioners and policy makers to prevent escalation to depression, social withdrawal, and reduced learning motivation.

The mental health of students in university has become an increasingly pressing concern due to rising academic pressure, career uncertainty, and major life transitions. Identifying students’ psychological support needs requires an understanding of the challenges they face, as well as their expectations regarding support forms, intervention methods, and service providers. This study employed a mixed-methods cross-sectional design, combining large-scale questionnaire surveys (701 respondents) with qualitative interviews to assess the mental health status and psychological support needs of students at economics universities in Vietnam. The findings reveal that students commonly experience negative emotional states, particularly anxiety related to academic workload, financial instability, personal health, and future career orientation. A proportion of students reported depressive symptoms such as persistent sadness, prolonged stress, and physiological disturbances including insomnia and disordered eating. While severe behavioral disorders are uncommon, signs of declining academic motivation, social withdrawal, and weakened interactions with lecturers are evident. Students express a strong demand for mental health support, especially in career guidance, learning strategies, emotional regulation, and interpersonal problem-solving. Individual, professional, confidential counseling services are the most preferred forms of support, highlighting the need for a comprehensive mental health and psychological support system tailored to the context of Vietnamese universities.

Figures