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Rationale, Methods, Feasibility, and Preliminary Outcomes of a Transdiagnostic Prevention Program for At-Risk College Students.

ABSTRACT: Purpose:Early adulthood represents one period of increased risk for the emergence of a serious mental illness. The college campus provides a unique opportunity to assess and monitor individuals in this at-risk age group. However, there are no validated early detection programs that are widely implemented on college campuses. In an effort to address this gap, we designed and tested an early detection and prevention program tailored to college students. A transdiagnostic approach was employed because of evidence for shared risk factors across major mental illnesses. Design:Single arm, prospective study evaluating outcomes following a 4-week intervention. Method:Three in-person mental health screenings were conducted on the campus of one university. Undergraduate students with at least mildly elevated, self-reported levels of depressive or subclinical psychotic symptoms, who were not receiving treatment for these symptoms, were invited to participate in a 4-session workshop focused on increasing self- and other- awareness and emotion regulation using established mindfulness, self-compassion, and mentalization principles and experiential exercises. Symptoms, resilience-promoting capacities, and aspects of social functioning were assessed pre- and post- intervention. Results:416 students were screened and a total of 63 students participated in the workshop. 91% attended at least 3 of the 4 sessions. The majority of participants found the workshop interesting and useful and would recommend it to a friend. Significant pre-to-post reductions in symptoms (depression, anxiety, and subclinical psychotic symptoms, ps < 0.004) and improvements in resilience-promoting capacities (self-compassion and self-efficacy, ps < 0.006) and indices of social functioning (social motivation, activity, and a measure of comfort with the physical presence of others, ps < 0.04) were observed. Moreover, the significant increases in resilience-promoting capacities correlated with the reductions in affective symptoms (ps < 0.03). Conclusions:These findings suggest that an on-campus mental health screening and early intervention program is feasible, acceptable, and may be associated with improvements in resilience-related capacities and symptom reductions in young adults with non-impairing, subclinical symptoms of psychopathology. Follow-up work will determine whether this program can improve both shorter and longer-term mental health and functional outcomes in this at-risk population.

SUBMITTER: Burke AS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7051934 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Rationale, Methods, Feasibility, and Preliminary Outcomes of a Transdiagnostic Prevention Program for At-Risk College Students.

Burke Anne S AS Shapero Benjamin G BG Pelletier-Baldelli Andrea A Deng Wisteria Y WY Nyer Maren B MB Leathem Logan L Namey Leah L Landa Carrie C Cather Corinne C Holt Daphne J DJ

Frontiers in psychiatry 20200225

<h4>Purpose</h4>Early adulthood represents one period of increased risk for the emergence of a serious mental illness. The college campus provides a unique opportunity to assess and monitor individuals in this at-risk age group. However, there are no validated early detection programs that are widely implemented on college campuses. In an effort to address this gap, we designed and tested an early detection and prevention program tailored to college students. A transdiagnostic approach was emplo ...[more]

PMID: 32158406

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Project description:BackgroundThis study protocol describes a proposed randomized controlled trial that builds upon a successful pilot intervention study to address problematic and dangerous drinking among young adult college students studying abroad in foreign environments. Despite universities and colleges citing alcohol misuse as the most concerning issue for their students abroad, most institutions offer no empirically-based prevention efforts tailored to this at-risk population. The proposed intervention attempts to fill a major gap for the nearly 333,000 students completing study abroad programs each year by using empirically-based and theoretically-informed risk and protective factors to correct misperceived peer drinking norms and promote cultural engagement abroad. In addition to preventing heavy and problematic drinking, the intervention seeks to prevent risky sexual behaviors (e.g., sex without a condom) and experience of sexual violence victimization, which are strikingly common among study abroad students and have the potential for lasting physical and psychological effects upon return home.Methods/designWe will conduct a randomized controlled trial of an intervention with a sample of 1200 college students studying abroad from approximately 50 US universities and colleges. The brief, online intervention is text and video based and contains evidence-based components of personalized normative feedback to correct students' misperceived drinking norms, content to promote engagement with the cultural experience abroad and address difficulties adjusting to life in the foreign environment, and tips and strategies to prevent risky sexual behaviors and sexual violence victimization abroad. Participants will complete online surveys at five time points (predeparture, first month abroad, last month abroad, 1-month post-return, and 3-months post-return) to assess for intervention effects on drinking behavior, drinking consequences, risky sex, and sexual violence outcomes. We will examine whether the mechanisms targeted by the intervention (changes in perceived norms, engagement in the cultural experience abroad) serve as mediators of intervention efficacy.DiscussionThe proposed study has the potential to fill an important gap in the research literature and provide empirical support for an online accessible, brief, and targeted approach that can easily be distributed to study abroad students to help prevent heavy alcohol use and sexual risk abroad. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT03928067.

Dataset Information

Rationale, Methods, Feasibility, and Preliminary Outcomes of a Transdiagnostic Prevention Program for At-Risk College Students.

Publications

Rationale, Methods, Feasibility, and Preliminary Outcomes of a Transdiagnostic Prevention Program for At-Risk College Students.

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