Understanding Mental Health: What Are the Issues for Black and Ethnic Minority Students at University?

Abstract

The experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students in academia remain problematic. Within higher education, BME students consistently face barriers in terms of accessing culturally appropriate services, including a lack of cultural understanding, communication issues, and where and how to seek help (Grey et al. 2013). In an attempt to examine the problems facing ethnic minorities with regard to accessing mental health services at university, this paper replicates and builds on the research carried out by Memon et al. (2016) to examine whether their findings also apply to higher education settings. Importantly, this paper highlights that barriers to accessing mental health support for ethnic minorities directly impact attainment outcomes and psychological well-being. This study utilizes the narratives of 32 BME university students (or recent graduates) to examine the impact of negotiating racial inequality and discrimination at university and the impact on mental health. Aspects examined considered the impact of belonging, isolation, and marginalization on mental health and how this consequently affects university participation for BME students. Utilizing a thematic analysis paradigm, the key findings presented point towards differential healthcare outcomes for ethnic minority university students experiencing mental illness. The empirical findings in this paper suggest that currently, ethnic minority service users experience overt discrimination and a lack of access to culturally appropriate services that are cognizant of the racialized plight of BME individuals. These findings inform an overarching dialogue, which suggests that mental health services need to be better codesigned with ethnic minority students. Furthermore, the findings suggest that information should be made available in appropriate language formats for ethnic minorities to support understanding about their mental health and how they can seek professional intervention and help. Conclusions and recommendations provided advocate greater diversification of mental health support systems for ethnic minority students within universities. Conclusions drawn will also consider how existing systems can function to dismantle racial inequality within the mental health profession.