Mental Health Needs of Muslim Students and Communities in Central Ohio
A Data-Enabled, Community-Engaged, and Equity-Focused Approach
Established at the Computational Epidemiology Lab and supported by donor funds, this is a community engagement project that aims to: to inform the development and data-driven implementation of culturally-adapted strategies and interventions for the prevention and treatment of mental health outcomes among Muslim students and communities in Central Ohio.
BACKGROUND
42.9% of Muslim college students experienced major depression and generalized anxiety symptoms (Lowe et al., 2019) while 24.6% have used illicit drug at least once during college (Ahmed et al, 2014). Extrapolating these statistics to The Ohio State University (OSU)—one of the largest public universities in the United States—with an estimated Muslim student population of 3,500*, there is likely a sizeable demand for mental health services and related needs at OSU. Therefore, OSU is an ideal academic setting for developing, testing, validating, and implementing religiously tailored, culturally relevant, and evidence-based practices and interventions aimed at addressing mental health needs of Muslim students and the communities where they pray, live, work, and play.
This study is a community engaged research project. The purpose of this study is to build trust between academic researchers and Muslim students and communities in Central Ohio. Through this trusting relationship, the long-term goal of the project is to inform the development and data-driven implementation of culturally-adapted strategies and interventions for the prevention and treatment of mental health outcomes among Muslim students and communities.
First, we are about to launch an online survey aimed at developing trust and strengthen ongoing partnerships within and between stakeholders. Three focus groups will be conducted to obtain more specific information from local partnerships. Second, once obtained, these data will be used to identify and develop a data collection strategy that will be trusted by the community. Finally, this data collection strategy will provide real-time program- and service-level data in three broad areas of prevention, treatment, and access to care.
GET INVOLVED
We are currently reaching out stakeholders, such as health care workers, community health centers, public health, and social care agencies, across Central Ohio to recruit them to take an online survey and participate in focus groups. We are also reaching out to student organizations, student health, and others at OSU who work with Muslim students in the areas of mental health and well-being. If you or someone you know would be interested in participating, please contact our research team.
QUESTIONS/ CONTACT
For any questions, please contact the Principal Investigator, Dr. Ayaz Hyder, hyder.22@osu.edu.
RESEARCH TEAM
Ihsan Rodriguez, M.S., PhD (candidate)
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Haanya Ijaz (picture forthcoming)
Ayaz Hyder, PhD
HELPFUL RESOURCE
Offering therapeutic services rooted in the Islamic tradition
1-855-5KHALIL or 1-855-554-2545
Email: info@khalilcenter.com
A confidential helpline and textline for young Muslims to receive immediate, anonymous, and confidential support over the phone.
1-866-NASEEHA (627-3342)
More coming soon!
*Based on a 2016-2017 survey conducted by the Ohio State University Undergraduate Student Government that estimated the percent of OSU’s undergraduate population was 5.99%. This proportion is applied to the total OSU student population in 2021 to calculate the estimated Muslim population at OSU of 3,500 students. This estimate is likely an underestimate due to biases in the original survey.