Lived Experiences of Seeking Mental Health for Students in Rural North Dakota

The need for mental health support and services is global in nature. While there is considerable research on mental health, student mental health, and the importance of mental health, little empirical research has been conducted on rural student mental health in the United States. The qualitative study utilized a phenomenological systems approach to explore the experiences of seven rural North Dakotan young adults, aged 18-27, in their attempts to locate appropriate mental health services while they were in high school. Through semistructured virtual interviews, these lived experiences were explored with six female and one male participant, with a focused perspective of the role rural communities played in the acquisition of services and support for this demographic. For the purpose of this study, rural has been defined as communities with under 900 people in population. Atlas.ti was utilized to gather codes, and the four themes resulting from this research were access barriers; therapeutic decisions and coping; perception, influence, and stigma navigation; and rural versus urban experience comparison. This study serves as a foundational point because regions this rural were not found to have been explored prior to this study. This study can effect social change by providing greater insight into the rurality that exists within the United States and the rural student mental health needs that are present there.