Black college students at elevated risk for suicide: Barriers to mental health service utilization

Abstract

Objective

To examine differences between Black students who do and do not screen positive for suicide risk; to describe barriers to mental health service utilization (MHSU) among participants with a positive screen and no current MHSU and; to determine if barriers vary by student characteristics. Participants: 1,559 Black students (66% female), ages 18 years and older (M = 21 years, SD = 2.61) recruited from September 2015 to October 2017 across four universities. Method: Participants completed an online survey assessing demographics, suicide risk, MHSU, and barriers to MHSU. Results: Seventeen percent of students screened positive for risk; 66% of these students were not receiving MHS. Students who screened positive were female and younger. Perceived problem severity (74%) was reported most frequently. Conclusions: Efforts to improve MHSU among Black college students at risk for suicide should address students’ awareness of treatable MH problems and time concerns.

Keywords:

• Barriers to care
• Black college students
• mental health service use
• suicide
• suicide risk

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Rebecca Lindsey, MPH and Kristin Aho MS for contributions to project management and the students who participated in this study. We also acknowledge Taylor McGuire, BS for her administrative assistance.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional review Boards of the University of Michigan, Stanford University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Nevada, Reno.

Additional information

Funding

Support for this study was provided by a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grant, Electronic Bridge to Mental Health for College Students (eBridge; R01 MH103244), and a Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (3-R01-MH-103244-04-S2).