University Students’ Mental Health and Illness Experiences in Health and Allied Health Programs: A Scoping Review

Among Canadians aged 25–64 years, 32% of those without disabilities have a university degree, while the figure among those with disabilities is only 13%. Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which an individual realizes their potential, and can cope and work productively. According to Statistics Canada (2016), mental illness is the most dominating disability among Canadians between 15 and 24 years of age. Health professional programs can be an intense experience. While the number of students with mental illness in post-secondary institutions is on the rise, students and faculty are asking how to accommodate students. The purpose of this paper is to examine and map what we know about university students’ mental health experiences in health and allied healthcare university programs. We included 17 articles in our scoping review methodology. We used data between 2003 and 2017 from databases such as MEDLINE, CINAHL, ProQuest, PsycINFO, and gray search areas. Two team members independently screened for articles. Data was presented in a table guided by the research question. The scoping review revealed four broad themes: (1) prevalence; (2) environment; (3) ethics issues and relationships; and (4) coping: being silent. While mood disorder and anxiety dominated students’ experiences, most responded by being silent. Although the prevalence of mental illness and health in university has been examined in the literature from medical and psychology frameworks, there remains a paucity of literature evaluating strategies to support students, particularly accommodating students with clinical/practicum-based programs. Further clinical, education, and research implications are discussed.