Associations among depressive symptoms, well-being, patient involvement, provider cultural competency, and treatment nonadherence: An exploratory study among university student-patients

Many students on US university campuses are underserved and undertreated for common mental health and medical conditions. The limited extent to which university students seek psychological and medical care when they need it has long been a problem. Among those who do seek care, treatment adherence appears to be an issue as well. However, few studies have examined factors that may be related to treatment nonadherence in university student-patients. The present survey study examined often-understudied constructs (i.e. patient involvement, treatment nonadherence, and provider cultural competency) in 243 university student-patients. Specifically, using a correlational research design, we examined the relations among depressive symptoms, well-being, patient involvement, cultural competency, and treatment nonadherence. Using multiple linear regression analysis, we also explored the extent to which the exploratory variables predicted treatment nonadherence separately and jointly. The current study revealed two important findings. First, all four factors - depressive symptoms, well-being, patient involvement, and cultural competency - were related to nonadherence to treatment. Second, depressive symptoms and patient involvement explained unique variance in nonadherence to treatment. The findings suggest that increased awareness of and attention to depressive symptoms and patient involvement may have important relevance for engendering healthy campuses and for reducing nonadherence in student-patients. Implications and directions for future research are proffered.