Somatic presentation of mental health concerns, stigma, and mental health treatment engagement among college students

Purpose Well-documented ethnic disparities exist in the identification and provision of quality services among children receiving community-based mental health services. These disparities extend to parent treatment engagement, an important component of effective mental health services. Currently, little is known about differences in how providers support parents’ participation in treatment and the degree to which parents actively participate in it. The purpose of this paper is to examine potential differences in both provider and parent in-session participation behaviours. Design/methodology/approach Participants included 17 providers providing standard community-based mental health treatment for 18 parent-child dyads, with 44 per cent of the dyads self-identifying as Hispanic/Latino. In-session participation was measured with the parent participation engagement in child psychotherapy and therapist alliance, collaboration, and empowerment strategies observational coding systems. Findings Overall, results indicate significantly lower levels of parent participation behaviours among Hispanic/Latino families compared to their Non-Hispanic/Non-Latino counterparts. No significant differences were seen in providers’ in-session behaviours to support parent participation across Hispanic/Latino and Non-Hispanic/Non-Latino families. Research limitations/implications These findings contribute to the literature on ethnic differences in parent treatment engagement by utilising measures of in-session provider and parent behaviours and suggest that further investigation is warranted to documenting and understanding ethnic disparities in parents’ participation in community-based child mental health treatment. Originality/value This paper contributes to the evaluation of differences in parent treatment engagement through demonstrating the utility of an in-session observational coding system as a measure of treatment engagement.

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Gender Differences in the Relationships Among Major Depressive Disorder, Heavy Alcohol Use, and Mental Health Treatment Engagement Among College Students

Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs ◽

10.15288/jsad.2016.77.620 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 77 (4) ◽

pp. 620-628 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Paola Pedrelli ◽

Brian Borsari ◽

Sarah Ketchen Lipson ◽

Justin E. Heinze ◽

Daniel Eisenberg

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Gender Differences ◽

Major Depressive Disorder ◽

Depressive Disorder ◽

Mental Health Treatment ◽

Treatment Engagement ◽

Major Depressive ◽

Health Treatment ◽

Heavy Alcohol ◽

Heavy Alcohol Use

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Perinatal Symptoms and Treatment Engagement in Female Veterans

Military Medicine ◽

10.1093/milmed/usab278 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Elizabeth H Anderson ◽

Carolyn Morrow ◽

Kristin M Mattocks ◽

Geetha Shivakumar

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Symptom Severity ◽

Psychiatric Diagnosis ◽

Mental Health Treatment ◽

Treatment Engagement ◽

Perinatal Period ◽

Veterans Health ◽

Health Treatment ◽

Pregnancy And Postpartum

ABSTRACT Introduction Women veterans using Veterans Health Care Administration maternity benefits have a high prevalence of mental health disorders, including depression, PTSD, and anxiety. Additionally, women with psychiatric histories often experience a relapse or worsening of symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum. Adequate perinatal mental healthcare engagement is critical to optimizing outcomes for mother and child. Materials and Methods This study evaluated psychiatric symptom severity and predictors of women veteran’s mental health treatment engagement during pregnancy and postpartum at the VA North Texas Health Care System. Seventy women using Veterans Health Administration were assessed longitudinally via chart review and interviews (including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) during pregnancy and postpartum. A Friedman test was used to evaluate the change in symptom severity during (1) the 6 months before pregnancy, (2) pregnancy, and (3) postpartum. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to determine predictors of attending outpatient mental health appointments. Potential predictors examined included sociodemographic factors, symptoms of depression, history of military sexual assault, presence of a pre-pregnancy psychiatric diagnosis, and attendance of mental health appointments before pregnancy. Results Approximately 40% of participants demonstrated at least mild psychiatric symptoms before pregnancy, and symptom severity did not significantly change across the perinatal period (pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and postpartum) X2 (2, n = 70) = 3.56, P = .17. Depressive symptoms during the 2nd or 3rd trimester were a significant predictor for attendance of mental health appointments during both pregnancy (OR = 1.18, 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.34) and postpartum (OR = 1.18, 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.36). An active psychiatric diagnosis during the 6 months before pregnancy was also a significant predictor of attendance following delivery (OR = 14.63, 95% CI, 1.55 to 138.51). Conclusion Our results demonstrate that women with prior histories of mental health conditions will continue to be symptomatic, and this is a good predictor of mental health treatment engagement during the perinatal period.

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Text Mining Mental Health Reports for Issues Impacting Today’s College Students: Qualitative Study

JMIR Mental Health ◽

10.2196/10032 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. e10032 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Fay Cobb Payton ◽

Lynette Kvasny Yarger ◽

Anthony Thomas Pinter

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Higher Education ◽

College Students ◽

Cluster Analysis ◽

Mental Health Services ◽

Health Services ◽

Student Services ◽

Higher Education Institutions ◽

Health Concerns ◽

Mental Health Concerns

Background A growing number of college students are experiencing personal circumstances or encountering situations that feel overwhelming and negatively affect their academic studies and other aspects of life on campus. To meet this growing demand for counseling services, US colleges and universities are offering a growing variety of mental health services that provide support and services to students in distress. Objective In this study, we explore mental health issues impacting college students using a corpus of news articles, foundation reports, and media stories. Mental health concerns within this population have been on the rise. Uncovering the most salient themes articulated in current news and literature reports can better enable higher education institutions to provide health services to its students. Methods We used SAS Text Miner to analyze 165 references that were published from 2010 to 2015 and focused on mental health among college students. Key clusters were identified to reveal the themes that were most significant to the topic. Results The final cluster analysis yielded six themes in students’ mental health experiences in higher education (ie, age, race, crime, student services, aftermath, victim). Two themes, increasing demand for student services provided by campus counseling centers (113/165, 68.5%) and the increased mental health risks faced by racial and ethnic minorities (30/165, 18.2%), dominated the discourse. Conclusions Higher education institutions are actively engaged in extending mental health services and offering targeted outreach to students of color. Cluster analysis identified that institutions are devoting more and innovative resources in response to the growing number students who experience mental health concerns. However, there is a need to focus on proactive approaches to mitigate the causes of mental health and the aftermath of a negative experience, particularly violence and sexual assault. Such strategies can potentially influence how students navigate their health information seeking and how information and communication technologies, including mobile apps, can partially address the needs of college students.

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