The Effects of Online Single-Session Interventions on College Student Well-being
Condition: Well-Being; Depressive Symptoms; Anxiety; Affect
MeSH terms: Depression
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study seeks to investigate the effects of an online single-session intervention on
      college student mental health and well-being. Undergraduate students from the University of
      Pennsylvania and Harvard will be randomized to a 30-minute single-session intervention or a
      study skills control group. Students' depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, positive and
      negative affect, and subjective well-being will be assessed up to 12 weeks post-intervention.
    

Detailed description: 
      The design of our study is a randomized control trial. After enrollment in the study,
      participants will randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In each condition, participants
      will be asked to complete an initial survey of mental health and well-being measures.
      Following this survey, participants will complete either a well-being skills single-session
      intervention or control single-session intervention (study skills) depending on which
      condition they were assigned to. These single-session interventions educate the participant
      on their focal concept and teach them exercises to improve that skill. Completing the
      single-session intervention will take approximately 20-30 minutes.

      After completing their single-session intervention, all participants will retake the measures
      of mental health and well-being presented to them at the beginning of the program.
      Participants will also be asked to complete measures of intervention feasibility,
      acceptability and appropriateness at this time.

      Following this initial intervention, participants will retake the measures of well-being and
      mental health at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks after they completed the intervention. This
      will allow us to fulfill our first objective by determining how long single-session
      interventions improve undergraduate mental health and well-being.
    

Intervention name(s): Multi-component Well-being Intervention; Study Skills
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The intervention asks participants to complete exercises based on three different skills. These skills include cognitive restructuring, gratitude and behavioral activation. After completing the program, participants will pick their favorite exercise to complete on a weekly basis for homework. In order to increase compliance with the homework, participants will complete a short plan in which they will identify when, where and with who they will complete the homework. The whole intervention takes approximately 20-30 minutes to complete.; Participants are taught three different study skills/strategies. They are asked to make a plan to continue using these strategies after completing the intervention. The whole intervention takes approximately 20-30 minutes to complete.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention