Studenten säger "jag visste inte ens att de fanns": En studie om studenters kunskap och erfarenhet av att söka, eller inte söka, hjälp hos Studenthälsan

Sammanfattning: The public health agency of Sweden has shown an increasing prevalence of mental illness among college students. At the same time studies show that students choose to not seek any help, and often don’t know where they would even find the help they might need. The aim of this study was therefore to map the prevalence of mental illness among students of Social Work at Campus Helsingborg, and examine their knowledge of the university’s student health services and whether they have, or have refrained from, seeking their help. The method used for this study was an online survey which was sent out per e-mail to all of the students of the Social Work Bachelor Programme at Campus Helsingborg. 152 students answered the survey. Our findings showed that a majority of the students who replied to the survey had experienced different degrees of anxiety during their time at Campus Helsingborg. Even so, most of the students didn’t know how to answer the most fundamental questions about their student health services, and only 4 percent of the students had actually been in contact with them. A majority of the students answered that they had refrained from seeking help even though they believe that they would have needed it. Our results showed that the main reasons for not seeking help at the student health services were that they didn’t have enough knowledge about it, and that they did not have the time to do it. Another reason for not seeking help was that the students felt discomfort and shame which was, in this study, related to Erving Goffman's stigma theory. Our biggest concerns with these findings were that students don’t know enough about the student health services and that this prevents them from being able to get the help they might need and want. The findings also concern us due to the responsibility the university has to inform the students about their services as well as to work with promoting mental health. We therefore see a need for development of the student health services and of their ways of informing and communicating with students.