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Help me help myself: examining an electronic mental health self-monitoring system in college students

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Abstract

The high prevalence of mental illness in college students results in adverse consequences that have led to developing prevention programs, with the potential of self-monitoring (SM) to reduce symptomatology. SM as indicated in this study intends to help individuals set goals, increase self-regulation, and provide awareness of personal psychological difficulties along with available support networks. In two studies, an electronic monitoring system was first tested on a bi-weekly basis (SM-B; N = 100), then implemented on a weekly basis (SM-W; N = 186). Monitoring was shown to be feasible in the pilot and showed promising reductions in stress and anxiety in the SM-B condition. While there were reductions in symptoms across experimental and control groups, SM-W significantly reduced anxiety and stress compared with controls. These studies support that implementation of a basic electronic monitoring and feedback system could help protect against mental health degradation over the course of a student’s time in college. Important implications for prevention of psychological distress in college students are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the students who participated in this study. We also thank Katharine Waldron, Aadila Lynch, and Charlotte Brown for their help in collecting and managing participant data and feedback. Finally, we thank Dr. Julie Dunsmore for review of a draft of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was funded by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University’s Graduate Student Assembly through the Graduate Research Development Program (PI: A. Gatto).

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  1. Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, 3110 Prices Fork Road, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA

    Alyssa J. Gatto, Yasuo Miyazaki & Lee D. Cooper

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  1. Alyssa J. Gatto
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  2. Yasuo Miyazaki
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Correspondence to Alyssa J. Gatto.

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All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Procedures were approved through the Virginia Tech IRB # 16-1014 and #16-348.

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Gatto, A., Miyazaki, Y. & Cooper, L. Help me help myself: examining an electronic mental health self-monitoring system in college students. High Educ 83, 163–182 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00646-8

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