Mental health and accessibility to services in universities: is diversity a barrier?

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health of Canadians. Preliminary results from a previous study conducted by our team show a significant deterioration in the mental health of university students and employees. This is particularly true for people from the five designated groups (women, visible minorities, people with disabilities, Indigenous people, LGBTQIAP2S+) in a university setting. What explains this particularly deteriorated state of mental health for people from these targeted groups? Could access or lack of access to services, for reasons related to gender, culture, language, disabilities, income and knowledge of available services, be a factor in this worsening? This study focuses on the mental health of students and employees of the Université du Québec network in the context of a pandemic and aims to gradually achieve 4 general objectives: 1) Identify the impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health of people who identify with one or more of the five designated groups; 2) List the main mental health services available in the university environment in order to meet the needs of these people; 3) Determine the factors that facilitate or hinder their access to these services; 4) Prioritize the best support services to put in place to support their mental health. In order to achieve these objectives, action research in the form of a living laboratory is proposed. The knowledge resulting from the work will take the form of practical tools that can be used by partner environments, as well as an action plan to promote the mental health of people identifying with one or more of the five designated groups in the university environment.