Cargando…
Mental health challenges, treatment experiences, and care needs of post-secondary students: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study
BACKGROUND: Post-secondary students frequently experience high rates of mental health challenges. However, they present meagre rates of treatment-seeking behaviours. This elevated prevalence of mental health problems, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, can lead to distress, poor academic perf...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10076091/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37020282 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15452-x |
_version_ | 1785020061515251712 |
---|---|
author | Moghimi, Elnaz Stephenson, Callum Gutierrez, Gilmar Jagayat, Jasleen Layzell, Gina Patel, Charmy McCart, Amber Gibney, Cynthia Langstaff, Caryn Ayonrinde, Oyedeji Khalid-Khan, Sarosh Milev, Roumen Snelgrove-Clarke, Erna Soares, Claudio Omrani, Mohsen Alavi, Nazanin |
author_facet | Moghimi, Elnaz Stephenson, Callum Gutierrez, Gilmar Jagayat, Jasleen Layzell, Gina Patel, Charmy McCart, Amber Gibney, Cynthia Langstaff, Caryn Ayonrinde, Oyedeji Khalid-Khan, Sarosh Milev, Roumen Snelgrove-Clarke, Erna Soares, Claudio Omrani, Mohsen Alavi, Nazanin |
author_sort | Moghimi, Elnaz |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Post-secondary students frequently experience high rates of mental health challenges. However, they present meagre rates of treatment-seeking behaviours. This elevated prevalence of mental health problems, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, can lead to distress, poor academic performance, and lower job prospects following the completion of education. To address the needs of this population, it is important to understand students' perceptions of mental health and the barriers preventing or limiting their access to care. METHODS: A broad-scoping online survey was publicly distributed to post-secondary students, collecting demographic, sociocultural, economic, and educational information while assessing various components of mental health. RESULTS: In total, 448 students across post-secondary institutions in Ontario, Canada, responded to the survey. Over a third (n = 170; 38.6%) of respondents reported a formal mental health diagnosis. Depression and generalized anxiety disorder were the most commonly reported diagnoses. Most respondents felt that post-secondary students did not have good mental health (n = 253; 60.5%) and had inadequate coping strategies (n = 261; 62.4%). The most frequently reported barriers to care were financial (n = 214; 50.5%), long wait times (n = 202; 47.6%), insufficient resources (n = 165; 38.9%), time constraints (n = 148; 34.9%), stigma (n = 133; 31.4%), cultural barriers (n = 108; 25.5%), and past negative experiences with mental health care (n = 86; 20.3%). The majority of students felt their post-secondary institution needed to increase awareness (n = 231; 56.5%) and mental health resources (n = 306; 73.2%). Most viewed in-person therapy and online care with a therapist as more helpful than self-guided online care. However, there was uncertainty about the helpfulness and accessibility of different forms of treatment, including online interventions. The qualitative findings highlighted the need for personal strategies, mental health education and awareness, and institutional support and services. CONCLUSIONS: Various barriers to care, perceived lack of resources, and low knowledge of available interventions may contribute to compromised mental health in post-secondary students. The survey findings indicate that upstream approaches such as integrating mental health education for students may address the varying needs of this critical population. Therapist-involved online mental health interventions may be a promising solution to address accessibility issues. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-023-15452-x. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10076091 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-100760912023-04-06 Mental health challenges, treatment experiences, and care needs of post-secondary students: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study Moghimi, Elnaz Stephenson, Callum Gutierrez, Gilmar Jagayat, Jasleen Layzell, Gina Patel, Charmy McCart, Amber Gibney, Cynthia Langstaff, Caryn Ayonrinde, Oyedeji Khalid-Khan, Sarosh Milev, Roumen Snelgrove-Clarke, Erna Soares, Claudio Omrani, Mohsen Alavi, Nazanin BMC Public Health Research BACKGROUND: Post-secondary students frequently experience high rates of mental health challenges. However, they present meagre rates of treatment-seeking behaviours. This elevated prevalence of mental health problems, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, can lead to distress, poor academic performance, and lower job prospects following the completion of education. To address the needs of this population, it is important to understand students' perceptions of mental health and the barriers preventing or limiting their access to care. METHODS: A broad-scoping online survey was publicly distributed to post-secondary students, collecting demographic, sociocultural, economic, and educational information while assessing various components of mental health. RESULTS: In total, 448 students across post-secondary institutions in Ontario, Canada, responded to the survey. Over a third (n = 170; 38.6%) of respondents reported a formal mental health diagnosis. Depression and generalized anxiety disorder were the most commonly reported diagnoses. Most respondents felt that post-secondary students did not have good mental health (n = 253; 60.5%) and had inadequate coping strategies (n = 261; 62.4%). The most frequently reported barriers to care were financial (n = 214; 50.5%), long wait times (n = 202; 47.6%), insufficient resources (n = 165; 38.9%), time constraints (n = 148; 34.9%), stigma (n = 133; 31.4%), cultural barriers (n = 108; 25.5%), and past negative experiences with mental health care (n = 86; 20.3%). The majority of students felt their post-secondary institution needed to increase awareness (n = 231; 56.5%) and mental health resources (n = 306; 73.2%). Most viewed in-person therapy and online care with a therapist as more helpful than self-guided online care. However, there was uncertainty about the helpfulness and accessibility of different forms of treatment, including online interventions. The qualitative findings highlighted the need for personal strategies, mental health education and awareness, and institutional support and services. CONCLUSIONS: Various barriers to care, perceived lack of resources, and low knowledge of available interventions may contribute to compromised mental health in post-secondary students. The survey findings indicate that upstream approaches such as integrating mental health education for students may address the varying needs of this critical population. Therapist-involved online mental health interventions may be a promising solution to address accessibility issues. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-023-15452-x. BioMed Central 2023-04-06 /pmc/articles/PMC10076091/ /pubmed/37020282 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15452-x Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
spellingShingle | Research Moghimi, Elnaz Stephenson, Callum Gutierrez, Gilmar Jagayat, Jasleen Layzell, Gina Patel, Charmy McCart, Amber Gibney, Cynthia Langstaff, Caryn Ayonrinde, Oyedeji Khalid-Khan, Sarosh Milev, Roumen Snelgrove-Clarke, Erna Soares, Claudio Omrani, Mohsen Alavi, Nazanin Mental health challenges, treatment experiences, and care needs of post-secondary students: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study |
title | Mental health challenges, treatment experiences, and care needs of post-secondary students: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study |
title_full | Mental health challenges, treatment experiences, and care needs of post-secondary students: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study |
title_fullStr | Mental health challenges, treatment experiences, and care needs of post-secondary students: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study |
title_full_unstemmed | Mental health challenges, treatment experiences, and care needs of post-secondary students: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study |
title_short | Mental health challenges, treatment experiences, and care needs of post-secondary students: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study |
title_sort | mental health challenges, treatment experiences, and care needs of post-secondary students: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10076091/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37020282 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15452-x |
work_keys_str_mv | AT moghimielnaz mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT stephensoncallum mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT gutierrezgilmar mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT jagayatjasleen mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT layzellgina mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT patelcharmy mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT mccartamber mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT gibneycynthia mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT langstaffcaryn mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT ayonrindeoyedeji mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT khalidkhansarosh mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT milevroumen mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT snelgroveclarkeerna mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT soaresclaudio mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT omranimohsen mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy AT alavinazanin mentalhealthchallengestreatmentexperiencesandcareneedsofpostsecondarystudentsacrosssectionalmixedmethodsstudy |