Treatment of problems among pupils and students more often required extensive multi-professional co-operation in student care services during this past school year. That is according to a survey published by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and the National Agency for Education on Wednesday.
More than 1,300 nurses, curators, psychologists and physicians working in student care services responded to the survey. Most of them agreed or partially agreed that the support needs of pupils and students have risen during the past school year.
More child and adolescent psychiatry needed
More than half of the student care professionals who responded to the survey said that there has been an increase in students' mental health problems, absenteeism, loneliness and problems with managing everyday life.
While the need for support increased, two out of three nurses and one in 10 doctors had been transferred to other positions for at least a week due to the pandemic.
There were also still significant gaps in the availability of partner services, such as child and adolescent psychiatry. In student care, on the other hand, most respondents said that multidisciplinary co-operation usually worked well.
"The main message of the results is that the welfare problems of pupils and students continue, even though we have been able to lift restrictions in schools and educational institutions," says THL chief physician Marke Hietanen-Peltola, who is responsible for the national development of student care services.
