ORCID
- Sophie Homer: 0000-0002-1825-5533
- Jackie Andrade: 0000-0002-6626-7192
- Jon May: 0000-0001-7439-9200
- Edward Meinert: 0000-0003-2484-3347
Abstract
Loneliness and social (dis)connectedness are significant public health concerns, particularly among university students. Despite calls to reconceptualise loneliness as a systemic issue, interventions typically target individual students. This series of studies used a sequential mixed-methods and participatory action approach to explore students’ social experiences and co-design a digital health solution. Focus groups (Study One) and a survey (Study Two) revealed that students see universities as partly responsible for their social connectedness, with perceptions of campus space being key. These insights informed the co-design of MAPP (Study Three), a preventative, system-focused digital solution. MAPP is an interactive campus map that visualises the university’s living social network. It increases the visibility and accessibility of the university community to foster belonging, scaffold social engagement, and support institutional inclusivity. By shifting focus from the lonely student to the university as a social system, MAPP offers a novel, holistic response to student loneliness.
Publication Date
2026-02-21
Publication Title
npj Mental Health Research
Volume
5
Acceptance Date
2026-01-21
Deposit Date
2026-02-24
Funding
We gratefully acknowledge the support received from King’s College London and the Student Mental Health Research Network (SMaRteN - UKRI grant reference number: ES/S00324X/1).
Additional Links
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Homer, S., Andrade, J., May, J., Meinert, E., Milne-Ives, M., Relf, O., Rogers, A., Cornford, E., & Richardson, R. (2026) 'Designing a systemic intervention for student loneliness and social connectedness using a mixed-methods, co-creation approach', npj Mental Health Research, 5. Retrieved from https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/psy-research/1218
