Exploring the Intersections of College Student Poverty, Grief, and Racial/Ethnic Identity: A Scoping Review Protocol

Background and Purpose: One in three college students experience the negative impact of poverty by not having secure housing and enough to eat. College student poverty is broadly defined as the food, financial, and housing insecurity of undergraduate and graduate students. Additionally, students with a minoritized racial or ethnic identity disproportionately suffer from poverty. College students who experience the negative impact of poverty are at higher risk for poor academic performance. One recent study examined grief in a college student sample and found those students with a diverse racial or ethnic background were more likely to experience Prolonged Grief Disorder; however, did not examine potential poverty in their sample. To date, there do not appear to be studies that have examined poverty by racial and ethnic identity and the experience of grief due to the death of a family member or friend. We aim to map the literature reporting on college students of any age who identify or are identified as non-white racial or ethnic groups who experience poverty and grief due to the death of a family member or friend. Our second objective is to map the interventional supports in practice delivered from campus or community services to support student academic performance and degree completion.

Methods: We will conduct our scoping review with guidance from the latest JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis version. Utilizing the framework as outlined by Arksey and O’Malley, we will conduct our scoping review with Arksey’s five stages: 1) identifying the research question, 2) identifying relevant studies, 3) study selection, 4) charting the data, and 5) collating, summarizing and reporting the results. For transparency and reproducibility, we will adhere to the PRISMA reporting guidelines.

Results: We will use the PCC model from the JBI Manual to organize our research question for our scoping review.

Population: College students of any age with racial or ethnic identities other than White.

Concept: Experiences of poverty and grief due to the death of a family member or friend, as well as interventional support for academic performance and degree completion.

Context: Any geographic setting worldwide. Interventional support can be delivered on or off campus from campus or community services.

Research questions: What has been reported in the literature on the intersections of poverty and grief due to the death of a family member or friend in college students of any age who identify or are identified as non-white racial or ethnic groups? What interventional supports are in practice on or off campus, and what supports are recommended for these students to support their academic performance and degree completion?

Conclusions and Implications: This scoping review aims to map the literature on the intersections of college student poverty, grief, and racial/ethnic identity. This study is timely and significant against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, as we have surpassed 1.121 million deaths in the United States, and we have yet to address the complex ways poverty, grief due to death, and a marginalized racial or ethnic identity impact a college student’s success.