Educators’ roles and challenges in supporting tertiary education students’ mental health: a qualitative study in Malaysia

Purpose Educators play a vital role in supporting tertiary education students’ mental health, as they have frequent interactions with their students. However, information on the strategies and difficulties educators face in this area is scarce, particularly within the multi-ethnic Asian population. Therefore, this study aims to explore Malaysian educators’ roles and challenges in handling students with mental health issues. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 12 educators from tertiary education in Malaysia. All interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings Four themes were emerged: perceived factors contributing to mental health issues among students, educators’ strategies in supporting students’ mental health, difficulties in supporting students’ mental health and training to support students’ mental health. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study exploring the roles and challenges educators face in supporting tertiary education students’ mental health in Malaysia.