A new study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is exploring whether students with mental-health problems would participate in programs that would enable them to outline plans for treatment in the event of a mental-health crisis.

Anna Scheyett, associate dean of the School of Social Work at North Carolina and the project’s lead investigator, said the “advanced directives for mental health” could include information such as students’ preferred medications, indicators of “what they look like” when they become ill, and whom they would like contacted in the event of an emergency.

Ms. Scheyett said she hoped the collected information would help university officials know what to do when a student in crisis was unable to convey his or her needs. Moreover, the directive documents could help administrators avoid potential conflicts with student privacy laws.

“Clearly all that goes out the window when somebody’s not safe anymore,” Ms. Scheyett said of confidentiality provisions, “but it’s sad to have to wait till that point.”

How colleges deal with mental illness and the balance between students’ privacy and safety has become a frequent topic of discussion since the Virginia Tech massacre last year. —Caitlin Moran