Clinical trial NCT05284123: The Impact of a Self-Compassion Intervention on Shame and Mental Health Treatment-Seeking
Official title: The Impact of a Brief Self-Compassion Intervention on Shame and Mental Health Treatment-Seeking Among Distressed University Students
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Psychological Distress
Keywords: Self-compassion
Mental health literacy
University students
Lead sponsor: University of Waterloo
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2022-03-17
Enrollment: 265
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: 1/3 of the study participants (anticipated n=100) will be randomly assigned to the self-compassion intervention group, 1/3 of the participants (anticipated n=100) will be placed into the mental health literacy intervention group, and 1/3 of the study participants (anticipcated n=100) will be placed into the control group.
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Untreated mental health problems can cause lasting harm to self-esteem, relationships, academics, productivity, and health. It is thus highly worrisome that only 18-36% of university students with significant mental health problems seek help. Many university campuses have responded to this mental health crisis by trying to increase students' mental health literacy (MHL), defined as "knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid their recognition, management, or prevention''. Increasing MHL appears to increase knowledge about mental health services, but it does not increase actual treatment-seeking desire or action. One problem with this approach is that it falsely assumes that students struggling with their mental health will want to pursue services once they have learned more about mental disorders and the associated treatments available. However, most people with mental disorders do not initially recognize that they have a disorder and may dismiss information about mental disorders and mental health treatment as irrelevant. Feelings of shame are elevated in individuals with psychological disorders, and these feelings act as one of the strongest barriers to mental health treatment-seeking.Given the low rate of treatment-seeking on university campuses, research is needed to explore how best to facilitate mental health treatment seeking among distressed students, including those who may not self-identity as having a mental health problem. Research has yet to examine the potential role of self-compassion in relation to treatment-seeking behaviours. Self-compassion (SC) is conceptualized as responding to personal distress with gentleness and kindness in order to alleviate it, and it is negatively associated with shame. However, research has not yet explored whether the perceived benefits of SC in mitigating shame can affect mental health treatment-seeking outcomes. We propose that cultivating SC amongst psychologically distressed students will subsequently decrease shame, and thus, indirectly elevate willingness to seek mental health treatment. Thus, this study will examine the effects of a one-session SC workshop/intervention compared to a one-session MHL intervention on shame and mental health treatment-seeking. Participants will be distressed students recruited from the University of Waterloo, and will be randomly assigned to the SC intervention, MHL intervention, or control intervention.

Detailed description: The study will consist of four online surveys. During the first survey (Part 1; baseline), participants will answer a set of questionnaires. During the second survey (Part 2; 1-4 days after Part 1), participants will first answer a set of questionnaires. Then, they will be randomized to a self-compassion intervention, a mental health literacy intervention, or a control intervention. Then, participants will answer more questionnaires immediately after completing the intervention. During the third survey (Part 3; 14-17 days after Part 2) and fourth survey (Part 4; 3 months-3 months+7 days after Part 2), participants will answer a set of questionnaires.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Undergraduate student at University of Waterloo with a SONA account
* Scored 8+ on Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6; screener scale)

Exclusion Criteria:

* None

Primary outcomes:
measure: State Shame and Guilt Scale (shame subscale)
timeFrame: Change from pre-intervention to immediately post-intervention
measure: Experience of Shame Scale
timeFrame: Change from baseline to 2 weeks and 3 months post-intervention
measure: Treatment-seeking intention questions (researcher-generated)
timeFrame: Change from baseline to immediately, 2 weeks, and 3 months post-intervention
measure: Treatment-seeking behaviours questions (researcher-generated)
timeFrame: Change from baseline to immediately, 2 weeks, and 3 months post-intervention
measure: Distress Disclosure Index
timeFrame: Change from baseline to immediately, 2 weeks, and 3 months post-intervention
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Compassionate Engagement and Action Scale (adapted self-compassion subscale)
timeFrame: Immediately post-intervention
measure: Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6)
timeFrame: Change from baseline to 2 weeks and 3 months post-intervention
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Waterloo
country: Canada
facility: University of Waterloo
state: Ontario
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Waterloo
name: Allison Kelly, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: