Mental health seeking behaviour of women university students: An intersectional analysis

Abstract

This research study explored the mental health seeking behaviour of racialized and non-racialized female students at a large size public university located in Ontario, Canada. A sample consisting of 570 students participated in the cross-sectional survey.  The majority (n = 413, 84.1%) were identified as Canadian racialized female students. The remainder (n = 78, 15.9%) were Canadian non-racialized female students, identifying with dominant Canadian culture. We contended that intersectionality, an emergent theoretical and methodological public health framework, provides a powerful tool for understanding these complex interlocking experiences in the context of mental health. High levels of depression and anxiety symptoms were reported by both the racialized non-racialized female students. The proportion of students with CES-D scores > 16 (indicating that may suffer from depression) was higher among the female racialized students (n = 265, 64.2%) than the non-racialized female students (n = 39, 50.0%). Approximately, half of the racialized students (n = 202, 48.9%) had BAS scores > 10 indicating that they may suffer from anxiety. About half (n = 38, 48.7%) of the non-racialized students also had BAS scores > 10 indicating that they may suffer from anxiety. The findings of this research study advocate university governance, healthcare professionals, and counsellors need to improve their services to address the specific needs and concerns of racialized students. Future research should focus on how findings can be translated into practice by designing culturally adaptive treatment modalities, that focus on resolving mental health problems in racialized and non-racialized female students especially in times of crisis similar to the Corvid-19 pandemic.