Assessment and internet interventions for mental health problems among university students : Swedish partnership in the WHO World Mental Health international college student study

• One in three university students present with mental health symptoms. Help-seeking behavior is low due to emotional and practical barriers. The objectives of this session are to introduce and report on initial findings of the Swedish part of the WHO World Mental Health International College Student (WMH-ICS) project, which aims at mapping students’ mental health problems and proactively deliver internet interventions to those identified at risk.1) Project introduction: The project conducts annual epidemiological surveys with 15 universities and colleges in Sweden. Students presenting with mental health problems in surveys are offered participation in a three-arm RCT, evaluating guided or unguided transdiagnostic ICBT against waiting list. In an embedded trial-within-trial, participants in treatment showing no improvement are randomized to personally adapted treatment (1:1) at mid-treatment.2) Students' experiences of a campus-wide mental health surveyBetween 2020–2022, over 2000 college students completing the WMH-ICS survey commented on their experience with it. We report results from an analysis of the open-ended responses using Consensual Qualitative Research- Modified methodology.3) Feasibility pilot resultsIn a single-group pilot study (n=28), students screening positive for depression (PHQ-9) and/or anxiety (GAD-7) received therapist-guided transdiagnostic ICBT over 8 weeks. We report on feasibility outcomes such as recruitment, uptake, measures of acceptability, and adaptive treatment procedures.4) Implementing digital psychology in academic curriculumsThe project led to a proof-of-concept course establishment for advanced clinical psychology students and health professionals: “Digital Psychology in Theory and Practice”. We report on the course syllabus and experiences of pilot course participants.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

mental health symptoms

university students

Sweden

World Mental Health International College Student project

WMH-ICS

psykologi

Psychology

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)