Isobel Forsyth

Linguistics and English Language (Bailrigg) | Year 3 | Degree: English Language and Linguistics BA Hons

The Pandemic, Mental Health and Marginalisation of Lancaster University’s International Students

My dissertation research investigates how international students’ mental health has been impacted by COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, there has been considerable effort to prioritise student mental health at UK universities (Thorley, 2017), yet international students remain an overlooked minority (Chen et al, 2020). My research explores to what extent the provision of mental health counselling disadvantages speakers of languages other than English, focusing on the barriers that affect their accessibility of services offered by Lancaster University.

Using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021) I discuss preliminary findings of an online survey of 42 international undergraduate students at Lancaster University and insights from 4 follow-up interviews. My analysis indicates that mental health provisions have been inadequate for international students throughout the global pandemic. In this context, linguistic and cultural barriers deterred students from seeking mental health counselling offered by the University. Preliminary findings suggest that successful counselling and utilisation of resources are dependent upon the proficiency of students’ English. These findings tie in with current research that spotlights how the global pandemic has intensified existing inequalities in the access to healthcare that disproportionally affect speakers of minority languages. (Piller et al., 2020)

Isobel Forsyth

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Isobel Forsyth

Linguistics and English Language (Bailrigg) | Year 3 | Degree: English Language and Linguistics BA Hons

The Pandemic, Mental Health and Marginalisation of Lancaster University’s International Students

Presentation Content

1. Introduction

I will outline my disseration study, providing a brief background on relevant literature and the significance of the study.

2. Methodology

I will outline my methodological process. I will explain the structure of the Qualtrics survey and semi structured interviews. I will conclude by explaining my analystic framework following Clarke's and Braune's Thematic Analysis.

3. Results

This section will outline the socio-demographic results from the survey as well as the results for the engagement and awareness of the University's mental health provisions.

4. Discussion

I will give a brief summary fo the results of the survey referring to quantatitive data from the survey and interview excerpts.

5. Main Findings

I will outline the main findings of this study and explain their significance.

6. Conclusion

In this section I will evaluate my study and explain its significance.

1. Introduction

Previous Research:

Since 2016, there has been a 94% increase in the demand for mental health services across UK universities (Thorley, 2017). This has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Much of the earlier literature on student mental health during COVID-19 fails to mention the mental wellbeing international students. 'International students are more prone to disorders including stress, anxiety and depression, as well as struggling to access local medical aid and psychotherapy,' this means they are less likely to seek support than their peers (Alharbi, & Smith, 2018).

A 2017 survey included 109 multi-lingual participants who reported on their language use in therapy. The presumed 'contact language' is English, emphasising psychotherapy is assumed to be 'English-mediated' (Gazzola & Grin, 2013). This study also reveals one-to-one therapy practices are benefitted when a counsellor actively accommodates their client’s L1 (Rolland et al, 2017).

My study:

An online survey of 42 international undergraduate students at Lancaster University focusing on the impact to their mental health, the barriers in accessing help, and the responsibility of student mental health. This was followed by 4 follow-up semi-structured interviews with international students.

The services included:

The University's Counselling Service
SilverCloud
Lets Talk
30 Minute Clinic
The University's College Advisory Teams
The Wednesday Thing
University Workshops

Methodology

The Survey:

The survey was conducted via qualtrics. Firstly, socio-demographic questions including participant L1. The second block of questions addresed how their mental health had been impacted by the pandemic. The major section of the survey outlined the 7 mental health services avaliable from the university to see how well recognised the services were. The final section focused on L2 use in psychotherapy and accessibility.

This survey included two types of questions.
Open-response questions enables participants to provide more detailed responses.
Likert-scales: 5 point scale 1 strongly agree, 5 meaning strongly disagree
Using both qualitative and quantative methods produced more insightful data.

Sampling Method: - Shared via email departmentally - Sent to the university's international societies - Shared on personal social media

The Interviews:

4 semi-structured interviews with international students who studied at Lancaster during the pandemic.
Semi-structured interviews more effective, more conversational than focused groups.
I analysed participant's responses to the survey to tailor specific questions to the interviewee.

Analysis Framework:

Analysed interview excerpts and survey responses following Braun & Clarke's (2021) thematic analysis.
Stages: Familiarisation, coding, finding patterns of meaning, finding themes, finalising.

An example of a coded response from the survey

Results:

Survey's Socio-Demographic Results:

All L2 speakers of English
All undergraduate international students
42 respondents, 32 female, 10 male
Predominantly, aged 19-23

Awareness and Engagement in the University's Services

Discussion:

Theme 1: COVID-19 and the Impact on Student Mental Health

The codes in table (2a) reveal that changes in the perception of mental health were different for each individual.
The vast majority of respondents stated that their mental health did decline and COVID-19 did have a long impact on their mental health.

'A1: Well, one is that I haven't got like family close to me yeah and also there is like a big time zone difference, so I don't usually talk to them, yeah.'

The codes in table (3a) and interview excerpts highlight the inability to see significant others due to coronavirus measures led to a decline in well-being.

The Pandemic, Mental Health and Marginalisation of Lancaster University's International Students

The codes in table (4a) for subtheme 3 reveal there had been a negative impact on higher education and student’s studies. The adoption of online teaching methods led to a negative change to student mental health (Tarkar, 2020).

Respondents explained they struggled asking for support as some cultures actively avoid discussing personal issues and mental health. This emphasises the stigma regarding mental health is still prevalent in this minority of students, which led to the underutilisation of university services.

'A2: My issues were not enough. You know we're not as important and we're not. And we're not enough to be given attention.'

Theme 2: The Prominence of English in Mental Health Provisions for International Students

24% disagreed or strongly disagreed stating the quality of the university's services was what deterred them, and other accesibility issues.
33% were neutral, their good proficiency in their L2 meaning they had little preference which language was used.
43% agreed or strongly disagreed that they would choose to access the university's services if their L1 was avaliable.

36% respondents did agree or strongly disagree that their limited proficiency of English limited their accessibility.
17% were neutral, their proficiency in their L2 was sufficient enough to access services.
47% of respondents who either disagreed or strongly disagreed that it was not only language barriers that affected their accessibility.

The codes in table (6a) identify the participant's preference to use their L1 in psychotherapy.
Language and cultural barriers may deter students from accessing the university's services.
Thus, accessibilty and the success of their counselling is dependent on students' proficiency of their L2.

Theme 3: The Pandemic and the Marginalisation of International Students

Figure (14a) 19% of respondents were neutral.
21% of respondents either disagreed or strongly disagreed their background as an international student makes it more challenging to access mental health provisions.
However, 60% either agreed or strongly agreed with Q36.

International students are marginalised due to other accessibility issues including geographical restrictions.
Other issues including financial stability exacerbated the decline of mental health.
Participants identified a hierachy with domestic students prioritised over international students.

Theme 4: The University’s Responsibility and Position in the Pandemic

46% of respondents either strongly agreed or agreed that the university had considered their mental health.
Although, 30% were neutral, and 24% either strongly disagreed or disagreed.
Therefore, 54% of students felt that university did not do enough to support them.

Some students who used the services did have positive perceptions of the services.
Some students did not think the services were 'high quality.'
This led to some students using external services as they deemed them as more 'professional' and 'higher quality.'
The university did not adequately publicise the services avaliable or the option to have counselling in their L1, leading to the services being underutilised.

'I think a lot of people that did use silver Cloud also said that they just felt like it was a self help part, like it wasn't actually like. Program to help you with your mental health and help the healing process. Instead, it was just something available to international students from the university. Sort of covered the fact that they needed to help international students so they just paid for something that basically could fill that quota.'

Main Findings:

One crucial finding is that there is a link between the accessibility of mental health provisions for international students and their proficiency in their L2. English-mediated mental health care perturbed students who had a weaker proficiency in their L2. Therefore, some international students who did not have a good acquisition of English were disadvantage by the provision of mental health counselling at Lancaster University.

Overall, the mental health of international students declined for a number of reasons.

Lack of social interaction
Academic stresses
Stigma regarding mental health
Financial issues
Accessibility issues in mental health provisions

The measures set in place by Lancaster University were underutlised due to a number of accessibility issues.
Although, there was a number of measures in place for international students to access, the University failed to adequately publicize them leaving students feeling disadvantaged and marginalised by their institution during the pandemic.

Conclusion:

This study is significant as it reveals personal perspectives on how the mental health of international students has been impacted by the pandemic.
It establishes what barriers this overlooked minority face when accessing mental health provisions, especially the impact of language barriers.
This study establishes how English mediated communication in psychotherapy can marginalise minority speakers.

A further study could be extended to other international students at UK universities to see how the barriers to mental health provisions affected different students.

References:

Thorley, C. (2017). Not By Degrees: Not by degrees: Improving student mental health in the UK’s universities. IPPR: London, UK.
Alharbi, E. S., & Smith, A. P. (2018). Review of the literature on stress and wellbeing of international students in English-speaking countries. International Education Studies, 11(6), 22-44.
Rolland, L., Dewaele, J. M., & Costa, B. (2017). Multilingualism and psychotherapy: exploring multilingual clients' experiences of language practices in psychotherapy. International Journal of Multilingualism, 14(1), 69-85.
Braun, & Clarke, Victoria. (2021). Thematic analysis : a practical guide to understanding and doing (1. ed.). SAGE Publications.
Tarkar, P. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on education system. International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, 29(9s), 3812-3814