The purpose of this study was to assess mental health counseling services provided by Florida public community colleges and universities. The researcher of this study designed the Counseling Center Questionnaire instrument. This instrument consisted of two different questionnaires, one for community colleges and the other for universities. The questionnaires were developed to ascertain information regarding mental health services provided by higher education institutions. The questionnaires yielded information pertaining to (a) which Florida community colleges and public universities were offering mental health counseling services to students, (b) the types of mental health counseling services provided, (c) the types of problems/issues students were reporting to counseling centers, and (d) the scope of mental health counseling services provided by Florida community colleges and universities. The findings indicated that only 5 of 20 Florida community colleges provided mental health services to students and all 7 universities who responded to the questionnaire provided such services to students. Community colleges provided fewer mental health services than did 4-year institutions. According to higher education counseling officials, students in all institutions experienced many of the same types of issues or problems including Anxiety, Depression, Bi-polar Disorders, Substance Abuse, Eating Disorders and Schizophrenia. Depression was the most frequently reported mental health issue among all students.

While previous research has explored the relationship between combat exposure and mental health disorders, the effects of mental health disorders on attrition rates of Service members, the discrepancy between mental health counseling services available and utilized by Service members, and barriers to seeking mental health counseling services, the majority of studies thus far have only been conducted with Service members and have been quantitative in nature. While researchers have begun to explore the experience of deployment on Service member spouses, little research has focused specifically on their service seeking behavior regarding accessing mental health services. This is unfortunate given that multiple studies have indicated the importance of including Service member's spouses in future research. This qualitative study included both Service members and spouses of Service member's in an attempt to capture their mental health counseling service seeking behaviors. Thematic analysis was employed to develop a model of mental health seeking behavior among Service members and their spouses. The resulting model is unique in that it attempts to account for the influence of multiple contextual and ecological factors. Limitations of the study, future research and clinical implications are also discussed. / Master of Science

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