Minority mental health patients face many health inequities and inequalities that may stem from implicit bias and a lack of cultural awareness from their healthcare providers. I analyzed the current literature evaluating implicit bias among healthcare providers and culturally specific life traumas that Latinos and African Americans face that can impact their mental health. Additionally, I researched a current mental health assessments tool, the Child and Adolescent Trauma Survey (CATS), and evaluated it for the use on Latino and African American patients. Face-to-face interviews with two healthcare providers were also used to analyze the CATS for its’ applicability to Latino and African American patients. Results showed that these assessments were not sufficient in capturing culturally specific life traumas of minority patients. Based on the literature review and analysis of the interviews with healthcare providers, a novel assessment tool, the Culturally Traumatic Events Questionnaire (CTEQ), was created to address the gaps that currently make up other mental health assessment tools used on minority patients.

Objective: This study looked at three key variables of fear of COVID-19, preventative behaviors, and vaccination intent among college students in the United Sates. In addition, the three key variables were compared between genders, age groups, race groups, and over time to see if there were any significant findings. <br/>Method: This longitudinal study consisted of two anonymous online surveys administered on REDCap before and after a COVID-19 vaccine became available. <br/>Results: The findings suggested positive correlations between students’ fear of COVID-19 and their preventative behaviors with the passing of time. Hispanic/Latino participants had significantly higher fear of COVID-19 scores compared to Non-Hispanic Whites and other races at Wave I and II. Participants between 25 and 30 years old had a marginally greater difference fear of COVID-19 score compared to those less than 25. Females had significantly higher mean preventative behavior score than males at Wave II. There was a significant association between race/ethnicity groups and vaccination intent. <br/>Conclusion: Knowing why different groups do not engage in recommended preventative behaviors or receive vaccinations can tell us more about what tailored interventions may need to be developed and implemented to promote health and wellbeing in this population. Further research needs to be done regarding race, gender, and age and how these different groups of college students are responding to COVID-19 and why.

“College Students' Perceived Risk of COVID-19 Infection, Protective Behaviors, and Vaccination Intent” is a thesis project based on research conducted from the end of 2020 to the beginning of 2021. This project investigated various protective behavior factors against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) based on gender, race/ethnicity, and financial difficulty of college students in the United States. The plan for this thesis project was to send out two surveys through Amazon Mturk to a group of 500 college students. The first survey further narrowed down the sample size to include only the participants who met the eligibility factors. A second larger survey was sent to this sample which included the data for this research project. This paper will explore the topics of perceived risk of becoming infected with COVID-19, preventive behaviors, vaccination intent based on gender, race/ethnicity, and financial difficulty.