2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium: Vivian Truong 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).

2. WSU CAPS Resource:
Mental Health
Screening Utilization
By: Vivian Truong, Jeffrey Kuentzel*
Department of Psychology, WSU CAPS

3. 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).
Abstract

4. Introduction: College &
Mental Health
• 1st onset of mental health and/or exacerbation of mental health
• 75% of mental disorders first onset by the age of 24
• Highest prevalence: 29.4%
• Lowest rate of receiving mental health services: 38.9%
• Adults: 26-49: 45.4%; 50+: 47.2%
• > 65% of American high schoolers attend post-secondary education
• Emergence of adulthood  identity development
• Social & personal growth development
• Adapt & balance new responsibilities

5. Introduction: COVID-19 &
Mental Health
• COVID-19
• Disruption in routines & academic settings
• Lack of resources for successful learning
• Tools: computers, Wifi
• Learning Assistant: peer mentors, office hours
• Academic environment: quiet time
• Yi et al: meta-analysis
• 39% prevalence for depression
• 36% prevalence for anxiety
• Li et al
• Bangladeshi college students
• 28.5% feel stressed
• 33.3% showed signs of anxiety
• 46.92% showed symptoms of depression
• Cao et al: GAD-7
• 24.9% experience anxiety due to pandemic & the lack of protective
factors
• 69% at high- & medium-risk categories

6. Introduction: Ethnic Groups &
Mental Health
• Stigmatization of mental health
• Lack of help-seeking behaviors
• Exacerbation of symptoms
• Decrease quality of life & self-esteem
• Exacerbation of overall health
• 1/5 U.S. adults live with mental illness (~ 51.5 million people)
• Only 44.8% receive mental health services
• Patterns of stigma & discrimination is most salient in ethnic groups
• Asian & Pakistan communities: embarrassment & defaming family reputation
( Knifton et al, 2010)
• African American & Latino: embarrassment & other’s reaction (DeFreitas et
al, 2018)
• Latino communities: exacerbation of mental health of caretakers of
individuals living with

7. Introduction: Gender &
Mental Health
• Male mental health service utilization: 36.8% (National Institute of Mental
Health)
• Masculine norms : strong, independent, & emotionally inexpressive
• Rejects femineity & weakness
• Decrease & avoidance in help-seeking behaviors  fulfill societal
expectation
• Suicide rate in men: 3.6x higher than women
• Leading cause of death for men from 10 – 35 years old
• Female mental health service utilization: 49.7%
• At higher risk for depression than men
• Unrecognized male-specific symptoms
• Substance abuse
• Aggression
• Risk-taking

8. Purpose
• Examine the rate of mental health
screenings in Wayne State student
before and during the pandemic
• Examine the rate of mental health
screening disparities between
different demographics compared to
the Wayne State student body

9. Hypothesis
• COVID-19 causes an increase in screener usage due to
changes in routine, and prolonged isolation.
• Patterns of stigma and fear of discriminations
associated with mental health results in a decreased in
screening utilization by ethnic groups.
• Socialization of men into masculinity norms, which
decrease self-help seeking behaviors, demonstrating a
decrease in screening utilization

10. Methodology/Experimental
• Participants: Deidentified data provided by Wayne State Students
• Screenings provided by WSU CAPS Department for WSU students
• Use total number of screenings pre-pandemic (3.15.2018 –
6.15.2019) and during the pandemic (3.15.2020-6.15.2021)
• Rate of screenings across different demographic groups (Racial &
Gender)
• Fall of 2020: August 30,2020 – December 14, 2020

11. Results
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
15-Mar 15-Apr 15-May 15-Jun 15-Jul 15-Aug 15-Sep 15-Oct 15-Nov 15-Dec 15-Jan 15-Feb 15-Mar 15-Apr 15-May 15-Jun
Number of Screening Visits Pre-Pandemic (3/15/18 - 6/15/19)
& During the Pandemic (3/15/20 - 6/15/21)
Pre-Pandemic Pandemic

12. Results
0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00%
Non-resident Alien
Other
Native Hawaiian/ Pacific
Islander
American Indian/ Alaska Native
Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish
Origin
Asian
Black/ African American
White
Demographics of screeners vs total WSU population
Mental Health Screening WSU
WSU Enrollment Total: 26,251
Mental Health Screening Total: 897 Chi-Square Exact Sig.
(2-sided)
Chi-Square Exact Sig.
(1-sided)
White 15,241 58.10% 494 55% 0.079 0.040
Black/ African American 3,897 14.80% 104 12% 0.007 0.004
Asian 2,668 10.20% 144 16% <0.001 <0.001
Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish Origin 1,447 5.50% 26 3% <0.001 <0.001
American Indian/ Alaska Native 68 0.3% 2 0% N/A N/A
Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander 15 0.10% 0 0% N/A N/A
Other 596 2.40% 61 7% N/A N/A
Non-resident Alien 1155 4.60% N/A N/A N/A N/A

13. Results
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Other
Male
Female
Demographics of screeners vs total WSU population
Mental Health Screening WSU
WSU Enrollment Total: 26,251 Mental Health Screening Total: 879 Chi-Square Exact Sig. (2-
sided)
Chi-Square Exact Sig. (1-
sided)
Female 15,573 59.3% 670 74.69% <0.001 <0.001
Male 10,678 40.7% 157 17.50% <0.001 <0.001
Other 0 0% 70 7.80% N/A N/A

14. Discussion
• Increased in screening utilization during pandemic
• Interruption in routines, academic settings & general fear of the
pandemic
• Blacks/ African American, Hispanics have lower rate of completing
the screening
• Except for Asian
• Number of screenings by white: close to expected
• Stigmatization of mental health
• Students may not know about the resource
• Males have lower rate of completing the screening

15. Limitations
• Missing data
• Self-report
• Limited to those who knows about the screening
• 3% of Wayne State population for the demographic
review
• Bigger samples  more representative of the whole
student body

16. What Now?
• More advertisement of available mental
health services provide by WSU CAPS,
closing the gap of disparities among
ethnic groups and men
• Establish mental-health-related
workshops
• Mental Heath Day, at least once a
month

17. Acknowledgments
I want to thank Dr. Kuentzel
for mentoring me, as well as
UROP for funding this project.