International students doing it tough

A recent study explored the health and wellbeing of international students studying in Australian universities. It found they were impacted by the challenges of studying abroad.

International students face unique challenges including coping with relocation to a different country, adapting to at times vastly different cultural practices and expectations, loss of family and social networks, and language barriers. Overseas research suggests that these challenges alongside the demands of undertaking a tertiary course can impact on the mental health and wellbeing of international students. There is also concern that when international students do face difficulties they do not seek help. A 2009 study (Russell, Rosenthal & Thompson) investigated help-seeking in 979 international students in Australia and found most did not seek help when needed, largely because they did not prioritise addressing the problem and did not know of the available services to do so.

Health and wellbeing at home and abroad

This study sought to add to our knowledge of the impact of studying away from one’s homeland by investigating the health and wellbeing of international students at an Australian university, the University of Tasmania. A 20-minute anonymous online survey was sent to all currently enrolled international and domestic students at both Hobart and Launceston campuses. A total of 382 international students and 1013 domestic students completed the survey. The international students had almost equal male and female representation whereas of the domestic students the larger proportion, 63 per cent, were female. Most of the international students were from Asian countries, predominantly India, Malaysia, China and Singapore, were more likely to be undertaking a postgraduate degree than were the domestic students, and more likely to be in full-time study.

Findings

Outcomes examined included mental health, (Kessler Psychological distress Scale; K-10), substance use, gambling behaviour, subjective wellbeing, general health and help-seeking. On all but one outcome measure (self-reported general health), international students fared worse than the domestic students. International students, and especially male students, reported lower levels of global life satisfaction, poorer social support and were more likely to be dissatisfied with their circumstances than the domestic students. They also reported higher levels of smoking, gambling and illicit drug use and were less likely to seek help for mental health problems. The authors argue for targeted and culturally sensitive health and wellbeing prevention and intervention programs to be adopted in the university sector.

doi:10.3390/ijerph15061147