Barriers for rural youth accessing mental health care with complex or reduced parental support

Youth mental health continues to grow as a topic of interest amongst academics and healthcare professionals. However, many fail to posit the nuances of youth growing up in a rural setting and the barriers that are faced when seeking access to mental health care. Thus, this analysis focuses on one of these barriers, specifically the importance of parental involvement and the corresponding loss of access for youth who experience a complication or reduction in support. Using a grounded qualitative interviewing approach, police officers and emergency room nurses from a rural county in southern Ontario were spoken with to obtain a third-hand perspective on the importance of parental involvement in rural youth’s mental health care. Reflecting on their responses through the lens of social capital, parental involvement was established as essential in rural youth gaining access to services. Recognizing the increased barriers present in rural settings, youth experiencing complex or reduced parental involvement were seen to be at an extreme disadvantage and often failed to achieve positive intervention. Thus, this analysis seeks to promote improved programming through early education that uplifts rural parents and their youth to achieve increased social connections and improved access to mental health care.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Criminology

Grantor

University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Mittal-Mercer, Teighan R.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Fredericks, Tyler

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10155/1956

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ontariotechu.scholaris.ca:10155/1956