Title

Making mental health a priority on college campuses: implementing large scale screening and follow-up in a high enrollment gateway course

Abstract

Objectives: We sought to evaluate a universal mental health screening program for undergraduate students using graduate student clinicians and online interviewing tools. Participants: Participants included 455 undergraduate students. Data were collected from October 2017 through January 2018.

Methods: Participants completed a self-report mental health screening questionnaire. Students scoring “at risk” on any subscale were invited to participate in individual online follow-up interviews to assess risk level and provide referral information.

Results: A majority of participants scored in an “at risk” range on at least one subscale. Follow-up interviews were conducted for 40% of students “at risk” and 33% of those interviewed were referred to the university counseling center. Participants’ perceptions of campus mental health priorities improved over a three-month period.

Conclusions: A pilot universal campus mental health screening using graduate student clinicians resulted in a meaningful number of referrals and enhanced perception that the university cared about student mental health.

Department(s)

Psychology

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2019.1665051

Keywords

College counseling center, graduate training, mental health, online screening, screening

Publication Date

1-1-2019

Journal Title

Journal of American College Health

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