Viewpoint: <scp>WHO World Mental Health Surveys International College Student</scp> initiative: Implementation issues in low‐ and middle‐income countries

Evans‐Lacko, Sara; Thornicroft, Graham

doi:10.1002/mpr.1756

Cited by 26 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Moreover, students with mental distress use substances to manage feeling of discomfort, which might hinder their interest or preparedness in seeking mental health care [46]. Mental distress, predictors, and barriers to receiving mental health care among university students occur globally, however, there might be higher prevalence, more complex stressors, lower help-seeking behaviors, and a higher treatment gap in LMICs compared with developed countries [47]. For example, even if the prevalence of mental distress is high among university students in LMICs, the majority of them do not receive professional mental health care [48,49].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental distress, perceived need, and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students in Ethiopia

et al. 2020

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Background: There is limited evidence on the extent of the perceived need and barriers to professional mental health service delivery to university students with mental distress in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study was designed to assess the prevalence of mental distress, perceived need for professional mental health care and barriers to the delivery of services to affected undergraduate university students in Ethiopia. Methods: A multi-stage sampling technique was used to recruit 1135 undergraduate university students. Symptoms of mental distress were evaluated using the Self-Reported Questionnaire (SRQ-20) and a score of above seven was used to identify positive cases. The perceived need for professional mental health care was assessed using a single 'yes or no' response item and barriers to mental health care were assessed using Barriers to Access to Care Evaluation (BACE-30) tool. Percentage, frequency, mean, and standard deviation were employed to summarize demographic characteristics of the participants and to identify common barriers to mental health care service. Moreover, the association of demographic variables with total mean scores of BACE-III sub-scales was modeled using multiple linear regression. Results: The prevalence of mental distress symptoms was 34.6% and the perceived need for professional mental health care was 70.5% of those with mental distress. The top five barriers to receiving professional mental health service were (a) thinking the problem would get better with no intervention, (b) being unsure where to go to get professional help, (c) wanting to solve the problem without intervention, (d) denying a mental health problem existed, and (e) preferring to get alternative forms of mental care. Coming from a rural background, being a second and fourthyear student, and a family history of mental illness were significantly associated with barriers to receive professional mental health service. Conclusion: The high prevalence of mental distress, the paucity of mental health care, and the report of barriers to access what professional mental health care there is among Ethiopian undergraduate students is a call to address the disparity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental distress, perceived need, and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students in Ethiopia

et al. 2020

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“…Stress can be especially high among such students but mental health treatment resources are typically quite low. In the second paper, Evans‐Lacko and Thornicroft () discuss the opportunities and challenges of expanding the WMH‐ICS work to such settings. The authors describe the rapid increase in college attendance in LAMIs, especially in middle income countries, and why preventive and early interventions are particularly needed in these settings.…”

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confidence: 99%

Introduction to the special issue: The WHO World Mental Health International College Student (WMH‐ICS) initiative

Cuijpers

Auerbach

Benjet

et al. 2019

Int J Methods Psych Res

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Most mental disorders have their first onset in early adulthood. Epidemiological research, as well as research on preventive and early interventions, is therefore very important. This thematic issue focuses on one of the first systematic attempts to develop such services for college students. The WHO World Mental Health International College Student (WMH‐ICS) initiative is based on the largest and continuously growing epidemiological dataset ever collected in college students. Based on these results, the initiative has now started to implement internet‐based interventions for common mental disorders and emotional problems. In this special issue, a general paper about the initiative is presented, as well as a paper on the implementation of the WMH‐ICS initiative in low and middle income countries. It also includes several papers with core epidemiological results of the initiative, a meta‐analysis of internet‐based interventions for mental health problems in college students and the first results of trials conducted as part of the initiative. Taken together, the papers in this special issue show that WMH‐ICS is on its way to becoming a major initiative in addressing the problem of unmet need for treatment of mental health problems among college students.

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“…The high prevalence of perceived need for professional mental health services in the current study suggests that most students with mental distress in Wolaita Sodo University remain untreated. This may not be astonishing, because most universities in LMICs are ill-equipped to solve students' mental health problems [46]. Previous study also reported that only a few numbers of university students receive mental health services for their mental health problems [61].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A number of university students in LMICs is growing [46] and most of the studies which were conducted in these universities, primarily focused on assessing the prevalence of mental distress than looking at the possible cause of hesitation or reluctance to receive professional help. Therefore, the current study aimed to assess the prevalence of mental distress, the perceived need for mental health care, and to identify barriers to professional mental health care among regular undergraduate university students in Wolaita Sodo University (WSU).…”

Section: Higher Education In Ethiopia Began In 1950 With the Establismentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental distress, perceived need and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students

Negash

Ahmed

Medhin

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Context: There is limited evidence on the extent of the perceived need for professional mental health care and barriers to the delivery of mental distress services among university students in low and middle-income countries. Objective: The current study was designed to assess the prevalence of mental distress, perceived need for professional mental health care and barriers to the delivery of the service for regular undergraduate university students. Methods: A multi-stage sampling technique was used to recruit 1135 regular undergraduate university students. Symptoms of mental distress were evaluated using the Self-Reported Questionnaire (SRQ-20) and a score of eight and above was used to identify positive cases. The perceived need for professional mental health care was assessed using one question with binary responses, whereas barriers to mental health care were assessed using Barriers to Access to Care Evaluation (BACE-30) tool. The association of demographic variables with total mean scores of BACE-III sub-scales was modeled using multiple linear regression. Results: The prevalence of mental distress symptoms was 34.6% and the perceived need for professional mental health care was 70.5%. The top five barriers to receiving professional mental health service were (a) thinking the problem would get better by itself, (b) being unsure where to go to get professional care, (c) wanting to solve the problem by own, (d) denying mental health problem, and (e) preferring to get alternative forms of mental care. Conclusions: The high prevalence of mental distress, mental health care gap, and the report of barriers to professional mental health care among Ethiopian regular undergraduate students is a call for action. Keywords: Mental distress, Perceived need, Barrier, and Professional mental health care.

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Viewpoint: WHO World Mental Health Surveys International College Student initiative: Implementation issues in low‐ and middle‐income countries

Cited by 26 publications

References 28 publications

Mental distress, perceived need, and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students in Ethiopia

Mental distress, perceived need, and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students in Ethiopia

Introduction to the special issue: The WHO World Mental Health International College Student (WMH‐ICS) initiative

Mental distress, perceived need and barriers to receive professional mental health care among university students

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