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.

Keywords:

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