Department of Psychology & Health Studies, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
St. Thomas More College, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
Front Public Health. 2023 Jul 10;11:1088999. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1088999. eCollection 2023.
Research into the mental healthcare of emerging adults (18-25) in Canada has been limited, despite this developmental period being widely considered a vulnerable time of life. As such, we aimed to identify the greatest barriers emerging adults faced in accessing mental healthcare in Canada, particularly in relation to the Canadian healthcare system which operates on a universal funding model but is challenged by funding shortfalls and a complex relationship to the provinces.
We systematically examined 28 pieces of literature, including academic and technical literature and publications from government organizations, focused on emerging adults and the Canadian mental healthcare system.
Findings demonstrated that stigma, a lack of mental health knowledge, cost, and interpersonal factors (e.g., one's parental, peer, and romantic supports demonstrating negative views toward mental healthcare may deter treatment; emerging adults demonstrating concerns that accessing mental healthcare may lead to peer rejection) acted as barriers to help-seeking in emerging adults. Additionally, a lack of national institutional cohesion and a lack of policy pertaining to emerging adult healthcare acted as barriers to adequate mental healthcare in this demographic.
Improving mental health education early in life shows promise at reducing many of the barriers emerging adults face in accessing mental healthcare. Further, policies directed at ensuring a cohesive national mental health system, as well as policies directly designed to care for emerging adult mental health needs, could act as the next steps toward ensuring an accessible and effective Canadian mental healthcare system that can serve as a model for other nations.
尽管人们普遍认为 18-25 岁的成年初期是一个脆弱的人生阶段，但加拿大对成年初期心理健康的研究一直很有限。因此，我们旨在确定成年初期在加拿大获得心理健康保健服务所面临的最大障碍，特别是在加拿大的全民医保模式下，该模式面临资金短缺和与各省关系复杂的挑战。
我们系统地研究了 28 篇文献，包括学术和技术文献以及政府组织的出版物，重点关注成年初期和加拿大的心理健康保健系统。
研究结果表明，污名化、心理健康知识的缺乏、费用以及人际关系因素（例如，父母、同伴和恋人对心理健康保健服务的负面看法可能会阻碍治疗；成年初期担心寻求心理健康保健服务可能会导致同伴排斥）是成年初期寻求帮助的障碍。此外，国家机构凝聚力不足，以及缺乏针对成年初期保健服务的政策，也成为该人群获得充分心理健康保健服务的障碍。
在生命早期加强心理健康教育有望减少成年初期在获得心理健康保健服务方面面临的许多障碍。此外，确保建立一个有凝聚力的国家心理健康系统的政策，以及直接针对满足成年初期心理健康需求的政策，可以作为确保加拿大心理健康保健系统能够为其他国家提供可借鉴的模式的下一步措施，该系统可以作为确保一个可及且有效的加拿大心理健康保健系统的下一步措施。
