The Potential Role of Telehealth in Addressing of Mental Healthcare Disparities Among College Students

Before the pandemic, larger institutions with sufficient resources already began expanding treatment access through Telehealth services, but Telehealth services were not widely adopted. Previous studies highlight the challenges Telehealth services targeting college students face, but understanding the core reasons for low engagement and utilization remains unknown. Few research studies have focused on the implementation of Telehealth services within college student populations to address low adoption rates. This study seeks to address the research-to-practice gap resulting in the underutilization of Telemental Health services in US college student and identify key areas college counseling centers are failing to meet the mental health needs and opportunities for improvement through the integration and adaption of Telehealth services. Results bring clarity to the trade-offs and implications of key policy decisions regarding the implementation and effective use of Telehealth technologies, revealing important implications about how mental health providers and researchers should adapt Telehealth programs and services to better serve student populations on college campuses. Telehealth technologies offer promising solutions for reducing the number of barriers contributing to mental healthcare disparities by reducing clinical loads of counseling centers, increasing accessibility and efficacy of care, and increasing alternative sources of support. Recommendations from this study include school and center level recommendations to address access-related, cultural, and financial barriers to mental health care in college student populations.