Text Mining Mental Health Reports for Issues Impacting Today's College Students: Qualitative Study.

Fay Cobb Payton,Anthony Thomas Pinter,Lynette Kvasny Yarger

doi:10.2196/10032

Abstract

BackgroundA growing number of college students are experiencing personal circumstances or encountering situations that feel overwhelming and negatively affect their academic studies and other aspects of life on campus. To meet this growing demand for counseling services, US colleges and universities are offering a growing variety of mental health services that provide support and services to students in distress.ObjectiveIn this study, we explore mental health issues impacting college students using a corpus of news articles, foundation reports, and media stories. Mental health concerns within this population have been on the rise. Uncovering the most salient themes articulated in current news and literature reports can better enable higher education institutions to provide health services to its students.MethodsWe used SAS Text Miner to analyze 165 references that were published from 2010 to 2015 and focused on mental health among college students. Key clusters were identified to reveal the themes that were most significant to the topic.ResultsThe final cluster analysis yielded six themes in students’ mental health experiences in higher education (ie, age, race, crime, student services, aftermath, victim). Two themes, increasing demand for student services provided by campus counseling centers (113/165, 68.5%) and the increased mental health risks faced by racial and ethnic minorities (30/165, 18.2%), dominated the discourse.ConclusionsHigher education institutions are actively engaged in extending mental health services and offering targeted outreach to students of color. Cluster analysis identified that institutions are devoting more and innovative resources in response to the growing number students who experience mental health concerns. However, there is a need to focus on proactive approaches to mitigate the causes of mental health and the aftermath of a negative experience, particularly violence and sexual assault. Such strategies can potentially influence how students navigate their health information seeking and how information and communication technologies, including mobile apps, can partially address the needs of college students.

Highlights

While attending college, students may experience personal circumstances or encounter situations that feel overwhelming and negatively affect their academic studies and other aspects of life on campus
There were six identified clusters, these clusters could be further grouped into two broad themes: (1) factors that play a role in the occurrence of mental health experiences in higher education and (2) what happens after a mental health experience
The lack of emotional preparation often led to an increase in stress and mental health experiences [24] that colleges are not prepared to handle as discussed in The American Freshman: National Norms [25]

Summary

Introduction

Students may experience personal circumstances or encounter situations that feel overwhelming and negatively affect their academic studies and other aspects of life on campus To meet this growing demand for counseling services, US colleges and universities are offering a growing variety of mental health services that provide advice, counseling, and services to students in distress. A growing number of college students are experiencing personal circumstances or encountering situations that feel overwhelming and negatively affect their academic studies and other aspects of life on campus To meet this growing demand for counseling services, US colleges and universities are offering a growing variety of mental health services that provide support and services to students in distress.

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Conclusion