About this Indicator
This treatment gap indicator shows the percentage of students who met the criteria for moderate or severe depression or anxiety but did not report currently receiving any therapy or medication at the time of their institution’s survey administration by sex. The Healthy Minds Study (HMS) survey utilizes validated screening tools and severity thresholds to assess whether students have experienced depression (PHQ-9) or anxiety (GAD-7) during the past two weeks. Respondents were instructed to report their sex at birth as either female, male, or intersex, though small sample sizes for intersex students did not allow for reliable estimates. This indicator does not account for the respondent’s gender identity (e.g., man, woman, non-binary, transgender).
Research shows that effective treatment can help students manage mental health challenges, leading to better academic outcomes, such as graduation rates.1 Treatment gap indicators can help colleges and universities better understand service utilization trends on their campuses, assess inequalities in treatment access across demographic groups, and inform efforts to address barriers that may prevent students from seeking or receiving services, such as time constraints, financial barriers, stigma, or difficulty recognizing when help is needed.
Data Source
Healthy Minds Network. Healthy Minds Study - Student Survey.
Note. Institutional participation in the HMS is voluntary, self-selected, and periodic, leading to variation in representation across sectors, states, and time. As a result, estimates derived from the HMS survey reflect mental health conditions at specific participating institutions rather than institutions across the entire Midwest or nation. In 2023, 7,346 public four-year students responded to the survey, representing nine public four-year institutions across six Midwest states: Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
This indicator was developed as part of a collaboration between MHEC and the Healthy Minds Network.
1Kessler, R. C., Foster, C. L., Saunders, W. B., & Stang, P. E. (1995). Social consequences of psychiatric disorders, I: Educational attainment. The American journal of psychiatry, 152(7), 1026–1032. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.152.7.1026