Increasing Engagement of College Students at Risk for Suicide in Online Intervention: A Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to identify barriers and facilitators to engaging with online interventions among 24 ethnoracially diverse college students self-identifying as being at risk for suicide. Thematic analysis was used to identify codes from focus groups. Participants shared mixed perceptions about online intervention use and effectiveness. Regarding barriers, they mentioned lack of motivation/self-discipline, artificiality, and lack of perceived need. Participants reported promotional information, incentives, and normalizing peer usage to facilitate uptake. Lastly, they mentioned program design, human coaching, and reminders to increase retention. These insights inform future research aimed at developing online intervention engagement models to increase uptake and retention.

Keywords:

• College students
• online interventions
• suicidal ideation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the American Foundation for Research Prevention, grant number PRG-R-003-19.