2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium

Winner ðŸ†: Vivian Truong (neuroscience)

Faculty mentor: Jeffrey Kuentzel

Abstract

Young adults (18-25) have the highest prevalence (29.4%) of any mental illness and the lowest rate of receiving mental health services (38.9%; NIMH). WSU CAPS provides Wayne State students with an online mental health screening opportunity. The numbers of screenings were of interest for this project.

COVID-19 has been shown to negatively impact students' social and academic engagement, as a result, screening usage during the pandemic was expected to increase. Additionally, the literature on gender and racial/ethnic disparities in mental health service utilization suggest that screening tools may be used less by men and underrepresented minorities. We also expected gender and racial disparities in use, despite the anonymity provided by online screening.

We examined screening use during the pandemic from 3/15/2020 to 6/15/2021 in comparison with pre-pandemic use from 3/15/2018 to 6/15/2019. It is found that the rate of screening is slightly elevated during the pandemic. Secondly, the rate of screening use among different demographic groups, specifically racial/ethnic groups, and gender groups during the fall of 2020 was explored. Of the 897 screenings that were completed, White completed more than 50% of them. Black students were less likely to be screened (12.2% versus 14.8%, p < .01), as were Hispanic students (3.3% versus 5%, p < .001).

Surprisingly, Asian students were more likely to complete the screening (16% versus 10.2%, p < .001). Students who identified as male were highly underrepresented among those who completed the screenings (17.5% versus 40.7% of students).

Poster pitch

Poster

Rate this presentation

↠Return to symposium