Project 467203

University students experience high rates of mental health and substance use disorders, yet they tend to have low treatment rates. Social identities (e.g., gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity) and mental disorder type influence whether students seek mental health treatment, though these factors have not yet been rigorously investigated in Canadian university students. Further, these factors are not entirely independent or isolated, so their interactions and collective effects likely yield different outcomes related to treatment-seeking. Therefore, this study aims to identify the predictors of mental health treatment-seeking in Canadian university students and to examine the interactions among these predictive factors. To do so, data from an ongoing, international survey evaluating the mental health and substance use of university students will be analyzed. The dataset includes data from four Canadian universities (UBC, SFU, McMaster, and UofT). Statistical modelling will be used to examine how social identities and disorder type impact treatment-seeking in students with mental disorders, and how these factors predict a perceived need for treatment in students who have not received treatment. Study results will provide insight into the factors predicting students treatment-seeking in a Canadian context and will help identify vulnerable groups with particularly low treatment rates. This will aid university mental health services in better tailoring their services and outreach strategies to reduce treatment inequities. University students and representatives from university mental health services will be engaged throughout the study to inform research direction and share study findings more widely.