Campus Mental Health: How Stigma Affects Students’ Approach to Resources
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2020-08-27
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Abstract
University mental health is an area of growing concern as students steadily report higher levels of psychological distress in comparison to the general population, and while university settings are increasing resources, there are barriers to students’ accessing these. One known barrier is mental health stigma. This research used a mixed methods sequential explanatory design in an undergraduate student population (N = 218) in order to answer the questions 1) to what extent are public and self-mental health stigma present within this undergraduate population?, and 2) how does mental health stigma affect students’ likelihood of approaching or recommending university mental health resources? Results indicated that public mental health stigma significantly predicted students’ likelihood of approaching resources, but not recommending, and that self-stigma did not predict either likelihood variables. There were no group differences based on age, gender, ethnicity, or area of study, but students who had previously used university mental health resources were more likely to approach these resources again if experiencing concerns. Thematic analysis resulted in five main themes: academics, conceptualization of mental health stigma, cultural considerations, university mental health services, and mental health culture on campus. Data were used to formulate student-based recommendations for improving university mental health climate and reducing mental health stigma, presented in three main areas for improvement: psychoeducation, feedback from a trusted source, and classroom-level mental health coverage.
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Stamp, J. (2020). Campus Mental Health: How Stigma Affects Students’ Approach to Resources (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.