Mental wellness in United Arab Emirates female post-secondary students

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the prevalence of mental illness in a nonrandom sample of undergraduate female Emirati students in the United Arab Emirates. In addition, students’ views and attitudes towards counselling were solicited. One hundred and twenty-three women completed Golberg and Hillier’s (1979) 28-item scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). The GHQ-28 revealed a high prevalence of mental illness (51%) among the students surveyed, using a GHQ-28 threshold of eight. Furthermore, students reported they held favourable views towards counselling despite never having sought counselling services. The differences between American/European and Arab views of mental illness are explored as one of several limitations to this study. Recommendations for future research are noted.