Date of Conferral

3-24-2025

Date of Award

March 2025

Degree

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.)

School

Psychology

Advisor

Miguel Messina

Abstract

The separation of physical and behavioral healthcare and a dominant medical model have left a void in practice and research, especially pertaining to the leadership strategies necessary to integrate the two forms of care in college campus healthcare clinics. This is especially important given the rise of mental health concerns on and off college campuses. Without integration, there are missed opportunities for care delivery, in general, and a missed opportunity for the provision of care to individuals who historically have not accessed physical and behavioral healthcare at equivalent rates as other populations. The subject of care integration is addressed in this qualitative study by reviewing the leadership strategies that may hinder integration, examining organizational barriers to integration, and exploring practices of integration found in the literature. The Baldrige Excellence Framework was used to evaluate the organizational efforts toward and the barriers to the integration of physical and behavioral healthcare in a midsized university health and wellness clinic in the southeastern United States. Data were collected from a semi-structured interview with a leader of the organization, the university website, organizational consultation reports, peer reviewed literature articles, and proprietary organizational materials. This process resulted in 10 recommendations designed to improve integrative care by addressing barriers that are common in the literature. By increasing integration, social change can be realized by creating access to care for students who previously have not been exposed to or sought out behavioral healthcare. This is especially true for those populations that have traditionally been underserved and are historically less likely to seek out behavioral healthcare.

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