Objectives This scoping review explores the health of international students (IS) in Canada by focusing on publicly funded healthcare eligibility, health outcomes and healthcare services, and the social and structural determinants of health (SSDOH). Design We registered a protocol and followed scoping review guidance. A search strategy was developed by a librarian, and Google Advanced Search was used for grey literature. Two reviewers screened peer-reviewed studies and one reviewer screened grey literature. Data sources Government websites were searched to understand healthcare eligibility. Six databases were searched for peer-reviewed studies. Grey literature sources included news media and websites of educational institutions and non-profits. Eligibility criteria We included peer-reviewed and grey literature on IS published between 2013 and 2024. We excluded non-English language studies, protocols and abstracts. Data extraction and synthesis Two reviewers extracted data for peer-reviewed studies, produced descriptive statistics and narrative summaries. One reviewer conducted these for grey literature sources. Results Most IS in Canada are ineligible for publicly funded healthcare. Among 282 peer-reviewed studies, 26 met our inclusion criteria. Mental health (MH) was the most frequently mentioned, while grey literature also emphasised violence and mortality. Studies focusing on MH generally found better outcomes among IS compared with domestic students. Qualitative studies reported on the SSDOH more than quantitative studies, highlighting that the social environment contributed to MH challenges. Conclusions Public healthcare eligibility for all IS may improve access. Differing cultural understandings of MH may have influenced how IS reported experiences. Culturally safe MH supports and large representative studies are needed.
Balkaran et al. (Thu,) studied this question.