Adaptation of an Evidence-Based Online Depression Prevention Intervention for College Students: Intervention Development and Pilot Study Results

Tracy R. G. Gladstone, L. Sophia Rintell, Katherine R. Buchholz and Taylor L. Myers
Additional contact information
Tracy R. G. Gladstone: Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA
L. Sophia Rintell: Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Katherine R. Buchholz: Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA
Taylor L. Myers: Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA

Social Sciences, 2021, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-19

Abstract: College and university students across the United States are experiencing increases in depressive symptoms and risk for clinical depression. As college counseling centers strive to address the problem through wellness outreach and psychoeducation, limited resources make it difficult to reach students who would most benefit. Technology-based prevention programs have the potential to increase reach and address barriers to access encountered by students in need of mental health support. Part 1 of this manuscript describes the development of the Willow intervention, an adaptation of the technology-based CATCH-IT depression prevention intervention using a community participatory approach, for use by students at a women’s liberal arts college. Part 2 presents data from a pilot study of Willow with N = 34 (mean age = 19.82, SD = 1.19) students. Twenty-nine participants (85%) logged onto Willow at least once, and eight (24%) completed the full intervention. Participants positively rated the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of Willow . After eight weeks of use, results suggested decreases in depressive symptoms (95% CI (0.46–3.59)), anxiety symptoms (95% CI (0.41–3.04)), and rumination (95% CI (0.45–8.18)). This internet-based prevention intervention was found to be acceptable, feasible to implement, and may be associated with decreased internalizing symptoms.

Keywords: depression prevention; college students; technology-based intervention; intervention adaptation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/10/398/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/10/398/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:398-:d:658070

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().