Improving College Students' Mental Help-Seeking Intention During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose

This study aimed at testing the effectiveness of a longitudinal intervention in increasing college students' intention to seek mental help during the pandemic.

Conditions

  • Help-Seeking Behavior
  • Mental Health Issue

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 18 Years and 100 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Inclusion Criteria

  • 18 years old or older - Full-time undergraduate students - Had more than a moderate amount of mental distress

Exclusion Criteria

  • Under 18 years old - Not full-time undergraduate students - Had less than a moderate amount of mental distress

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose
Health Services Research
Masking
Single (Participant)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
YouTube Intervention 		Participants assigned to this task were asked to search YouTube for a 5-10 minutes' video promoting mental help-seeking among college students. Then, they were expected to provide the link to the video and describe the content of the video. Next, participants were guided to form rebuttals disapproving three statements that rationalize students' low intention to seek mental help.
  • Behavioral: Mental help-seeking self-persuasion
    Employing a longitudinal design, this study used a self-persuasion framework in a 4-arm intervention to increase college students' help-seeking intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Active Comparator
Facebook Intervention 		This task was to draft a Facebook message for the participants' fellow students. In their message, participants were expected to list three reasons for seeking mental help. The length of the message was not pre-determined.
  • Behavioral: Mental help-seeking self-persuasion
    Employing a longitudinal design, this study used a self-persuasion framework in a 4-arm intervention to increase college students' help-seeking intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Placebo Comparator
YouTube Control Group 		Participants in this group were assigned a YouTube task advocating social distancing during a pandemic. The question prompts were modified from the tasks for the experimental groups.
  • Behavioral: Mental help-seeking self-persuasion
    Employing a longitudinal design, this study used a self-persuasion framework in a 4-arm intervention to increase college students' help-seeking intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Placebo Comparator
Facebook Control Group 		Participants in this group were assigned a Facebook task advocating social distancing during a pandemic. The question prompts were modified from the tasks for the experimental groups.
  • Behavioral: Mental help-seeking self-persuasion
    Employing a longitudinal design, this study used a self-persuasion framework in a 4-arm intervention to increase college students' help-seeking intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recruiting Locations

More Details

NCT ID
NCT05451706
Status
Completed
Sponsor
Cleveland State University

Detailed Description

This study aimed at testing the effectiveness of a longitudinal intervention in increasing college students' intention to seek mental help during the pandemic. A four-armed randomized controlled experiment was conducted to compare two self-persuasion methods against two control conditions. Assessments took place at baseline (T0), post-first treatment (T1), post-second treatment (six weeks, T2), and ten-week follow-up (T3). The results showed that the intervention significantly increased students' help-seeking intention, attitude, and efficacy at different time points. It also reduced mental help-seeking-related stigma after the first task.