A systematic review of higher education-based interventions to support the mental health and wellbeing of neurodivergent students

Increasing numbers of neurodivergent students are engaging in higher education; however, support approaches vary within different institutions. Sometimes there are long waiting lists for specialised support, and most focus on academic adjustments, such as providing extra time in an assessment, rather than mental health and wellbeing. A systematic review, pre-registered on Prospero (CRD42024597980), was conducted to provide an overview of interventions supporting mental health and wellbeing of neurodivergent students in higher education. Ovid, Web of Science, and ERIC databases were searched in May 2025. Studies were included where the intervention aimed to improve mental health and/or wellbeing or improve the student experience, and the focus was on whether any strength-based approaches were used. Thirty-seven studies are included, conducted in seven countries. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to assess the quality of included papers. Interventions varied widely and included: coaching, cognitive behavioural therapy, self-help, peer support, psychotherapy, counselling, mentoring, mindfulness, and neuro/bio feedback. The narrative synthesis demonstrates little evidence of strength-based approaches and found that neurodivergent students were rarely involved in designing the interventions. Most commonly, studies focused on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (17 studies) or Autism (14 studies), with few interventions considering co-occurrence or other neurotypes.