Isobel Forsyth
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)