MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS

IN LOW-INCOME AND
MINORITY COLLEGE
POPULATIONS

Vicki Wu, Chanelle Truong, Esmeralda Herrejon,

Katherine Hor
 JUSTIFICATION & NEEDS ASSESSMENT

01 Correlation between mental health issues

and minority racial groups, goals and
objectives

INTERVENTION DESCRIPTION

02
TABLE OF
Scope of work, implementation plan, 12-month
timeline involving goals and objectives with our
mental health awareness program

CONTENTS 03
EVALUATION
Collection instruments, process, impact and
outcome measures

BARRIERS/CHALLENGES/CONCLUSION

04 Challenges and how we propose to overcome

them
01
JUSTIFICATION & NEEDS ASSESSMENT

● College students of color have a

higher prevalence of depression and
anxiety
● Treatment is lower among these
students because of stigma (Lipson,
Kern, Eisenberg, & Breland-Nobel,
2018)
● Because of stigma, students are less
likely to seek out services to better
cope with mental health issues
01
JUSTIFICATION & NEEDS ASSESSMENT CONTINUED

Low Income Students of Color & Mental Health

● One stressor among students=financial strain

(Adams, Meyers, & Beidas, 2016)
● 39% of African-Americans and 33% of Latinx
are low income (“Ethnic and Racial”, n.d.)
● Financial stress combined with workload
increases likelihood of mental health issues to
develop
● Less likely to access and utilize mental health
services due to cost (Maura & Weisman de
Mamani, 2017)
 Mental Health
Awareness Program
Starting a Mental Health Student
Ambassadors team can help
increase mental health awareness
in low income students by
decreasing stigma through
education, motivation, and
support.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
1) Increase mental health awareness
for mental health resources with a
new implementation of
ambassadors from CSULB’s CAPS
(Counseling and Psychological
Services department)
2) Target Black and Latinx students in
the low-income bracket who
experience mental health issues
3) Increase their use of services
offered by CAPS
 Objective #1 Objective #2
02 By March 2020, 50 low-income By May 2020, 70 low-income

INTERVENTION Black and Latinx students will

be given an assessment by
Black and Latinx students will
be given an assessment by

DESCRIPTION
CAPS Ambassadors to CAPS Ambassadors on what
determine possible symptoms mental health resources and
of mental health concerns, if services are being used, if any.
any, after receiving
presentations on available
resources. Additionally,
professors will have gone
through training to identify
distressed students.

Description: Description:
-Presentations by student -CAPS Ambassadors will continue
ambassadors (senior psychology presentations
majors and interns) -One-on-one sessions with
-Assessment includes possible ambassadors with students
symptoms of mental health issues -Host meetings to highlight
and actions the individual takes services and offer more
towards the issues information
-Hand out brochures during WoW -Assessment will determine
-Professors undergo extensive utilization of resources and
training services, including treatment
 02 Objective #3 Objective #4

INTERVENTION By December 2020, 100 At least 15% of

DESCRIPTION low-income Black and

Latinx students will be
participants will be able
to identify common
able to identify causes of mental health
symptoms of mental issues in college
health issues on their students.
own and have used the
resources and services
on campus.

Description: Description:
-New assessment given at the -A new assessment will be
end of the year to determine the generated involving questions
number of students that sought on mental health
out treatment and resources issues/illnesses, common
offered causes, preventative measures
-Students will be more to minimize issues and
self-aware of mental health treatment/services offered by
issues CAPS
 02 Objective #5 Objective #6

INTERVENTION At least 25% of By December 2020, mental

DESCRIPTION
participants will report health resources and
having used mental health services will be used by
services on campus, in more than 100 low-income
addition to practicing minority students, in
stress management, addition to an
communication strategies improvement of the
and self-care methods on psychological and
their own time. emotional well-being
shown by new
assessments given.

Description: Description:
-A new assessment will be given -Forms will include questions
that asks questions regarding regarding their race/ethnicity,
the services used on campus annual household income and
mental health concerns
-Emails will be sent out
containing an online version of
forms
-CAPS will collect the data
 According to a study by The
National Alliance on Mental Illness
(2012),
“36% of the students who have a
mental illness are no longer attending
college due to mental health issues”

The study suggests that remedial and

outreach interventions can identify and
support distressed students early.
03 EVALUATION
Objective#1
Our first objective in our process
measure will be completed by March
2020. At this point in our project, 50 low
income Black and Latinx students will
take an assessment offered by CAPS
Ambassadors to determine possible
symptoms of mental health concerns.

Objective#2
Our second objective in our process
measure will be completed by May 2020,
which will include at least 70
low-income Black and Latinx students
that have completed a mental health
assessment and know of available
resources on campus.
03 EVALUATION
Objective #3
Our third objective in our process measure
will include at least 100 low-income Black
and Latinx students that will be able to
identify symptoms of mental health and
who have used the resources and services
on campus.

Description for process measures:

Our group will actively be collecting data

from each assessment from each deadline
and determine whether or not these low
income minority students have any mental
health concerns. Our data will include
quantifiable surveys that students will have
to complete when filling out these
assessments.
03 EVALUATION
Objective#4
Our first objective for impact
measures that at least 15% of
participants will be able to identify
causes of mental health issues most
commonly found in college students.

Objective#5

Our second objective for impact

measures will measure that at least
25% of participants report using
mental health services on campus as
well as practicing stress
management and communication
strategies on their own time.
03 EVALUATION
Description for impact measures:
After students take their assessments,
CAPS Ambassadors will conduct interviews
that will be used to collect quantifiable data
and ask students whether or not they can
identify common mental health issues in
students. We will also track numerical data
to use as indicators and determine if
students are utilizing mental health
resources and services.
 03 EVALUATION
Objective#6
Our only objective for outcome measures is
that by December 2020, at least 100 low
income minority students will use mental
health services on campus and also see an
improvement of their mental well being
measured by new assessments given.

Description for outcome measure:

By using our CAPS Ambassadors to give
informational presentations, brochures,
host meetings, and pass out flyers,
students will be informed of these services
and be more inclined to use them if they
face mental health concerns.
04
BARRIERS/CHALLENGES

● People afraid of being stigmatized

○ It’s hard to risk social and professional capital
to seek help
○ Biggest barrier for some people t o seek
support
● Hardest step towards recovery is to reach out for
support
○ Often people feel ashamed or embarrassed to
seek help
○ It is hard for people to admit their problem to
their family/professionals
● Cultural factors
○ Some cultures don’t see mental illness as a real
problem but view it as a phase
○ Ex: Asian cultures stigmatize mental illness and
believe it reflects poorly on family lineage
○ Many cultures wish to preserve the public
appearance of their child/family
04
BARRIERS/CHALLENGES SOLUTIONS

● Stigmatization is a huge barrier/challenge

so we must eliminate the stigma
○ Need to raise awareness to ensure
our participants trust us
○ We should have assessments to
educate students through
presentations/speakers
○ Must be selective in our words to
reassure students they have nothing
to be ashamed of
● Goal: Make our students feel safe and trust
us
○ Must acknowledge the student as a
partnership not as an authority
relationship
04
BARRIERS/CHALLENGES

● Cultural factors
○ Some cultures don’t see mental illness as
a real problem but view it as a phase
○ Ex: Asian cultures stigmatize mental
illness and believe it reflects poorly on
family lineage
○ Many cultures wish to preserve the public
appearance of their child/family
● Financial barriers
○ People may not be seeking help because
they can’t afford it
○ About 60-70% of respondents are worried
about cost
○ Rates of uninsured are highest among
racial/ethnic minorities
○ Health insurance does not guarantee
mental health services
04
BARRIERS/CHALLENGES SOLUTIONS

● Educate our student on the options

available
○ We will educate them on the coverage
they have if they have Medical/private
insurance
○ Ex: People may not know that they
can appeal coverage decisions and
are able to seek an exception to
coverage
○ Students without coverage have
options to seek mental health help
with practitioners in training
● Goal: Inform students that there are options
for them in seeking help if they are
struggling with finances
 “Outreach interventions and educational

programs are ‘found to reduce levels of distress and

increase coping abilities in families of persons with

mental illness”, in addition to being cost-effective”.

—JESSICA R. FERRIERO
LITERATURE
REVIEW
THEORY 1 THEORY 2
By using our CAPS Ambassadors This data will help us determine if
to give informational our efforts were successful in
presentations, brochures, host increasing service use for CAPS
meetings, and pass out flyers, resources
students will be informed of
these services and be more
inclined to use them if they face
mental health concerns
CONCLUSIONS

JUSTIFICATION/NEEDS GOAL OBJECTIVE

Mental health disparities By utilizing the CAPS Our Mental Health Awareness
for low-income and minority department to start a Mental Program will be implemented
student populations are a major Health Student Ambassadors to create a CAPS
issue across the United States. team, we can increase mental Ambassadors team who will
Studies have shown that college health awareness in work to increase student
students of color have a higher low-income minority students awareness for mental health
prevalence of depression and along with decreasing stigma resources found on the CSULB
anxiety and higher levels of and negative mental health campus offered by the CAPS
functional impairments. department.
impacts.
 CONCLUSIONS

Implementation plan includes:

This intervention involves -Presentations given by CAPS Ambassadors
working closely with Counseling -Outreach interventions
and Psychological Services -Workshops/educational programs -Persona
(CAPS) assessments for students

The goal involves To raise awareness:

targeting low-income Black and -Putting up posters and brochures
Latinx students who may be -Having CAPS Ambassadors go to
struggling with mental health classes to give short presentations
issues by increasing awareness on the resources and services
of resources and utilization of -Informing them on how to access
those resources available Counseling and Psychological
Services known as CAPS on campus
 REFERENCES
Adams, D.R., Meyers, S.A., & Beidas, R.S. (2016). The relationship between financial strain,

perceived stress, psychological symptoms, and academic and social integration in undergraduate students. Journal

of American College Health, 64(5), 362-370. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2016.1154559

Ethnic and Racial Minorities & Socioeconomic Status. (n.d.). American Psychological Association. Retrieved from

https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/minorities

Lipson, S. K., Kern, A., Eisenberg, D., & Breland-Nobel, A. M. (2018). Mental health disparities among college students of

color. Journal of Adolescent Health, 63(3), 348-356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.04.014

Maura, J. & Weisman de Mamani, A. (2017). Mental health disparities, treatment engagement, and attrition among

racial/ethnic minorities with severe mental illness: A review. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Setting, 24,

187-210. doi 10.1007/s10880-017-9510-2

 REFERENCES
National Alliance on Mental Illness. (2012). A Survey Report on Mental Illness. Retrieved from

https://www.nami.org/About-NAMI/Publications-Reports/Survey-Reports/College-Students-Speak_A-Survey-Repo

rt-on-Mental-H.pdf