Mental Health Help-Seeking Barriers for College Students: A Systematic Review

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2020-04-08

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Abstract

Students who transition to college will often struggle with maintaining their mental health because of the significant changes occurring in their life. Many campuses across the country provide services to help students manage any mental health issues they encounter. To better help students, researchers need to understand the barriers for students who attempt to seek care. In this study, the current literature was examined to understand the questions being posed, the significant findings, and the gaps. Key terms were used to find articles in the PubMed database. After gathering 1377 articles, 20 ultimately matched the criteria to be a part of the systematic review. Although there were several different research questions, many authors examined how social barriers were affecting students; this included cultural stigma, self-stigma, and social stigma. After analyzing the data, social-stigma as a leading barrier was discussed in more than half of the literature reviewed. The methodologies used in the current literature were primarily quantitative research and had samples not representative of the overall college student population.

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help seeking barriers, mental health, college students, systematic review

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