A Review of International Students’ Help-seeking

Abstract

This paper examines the previous studies about international students’ help-seeking. International students experience more stress than local students, and they are more vulnerable to mental health problems. It is important for international students to seek help before problems get worse, but their underutilization of university mental health support services has been reported in previous research. This paper reviewed 25 studies to clarify the existing findings and current problems within this topic in hopes of providing a direction for future research to better support international students. These previous studies tend to categorize international students by regions and countries, which limits the findings to certain groups of international students. Therefore, a paradigm shift that examines international students’ help-seeking more systematically is required. Additionally, a model that considers the impact of their home country’s culture, the impact of the host culture, and the possibility of changes, is necessary. Further research that addresses international students in Japan is required in order to better apply support practices for international student in Japan.