Mindfulness and Acceptance Applied in Colleges Through Web-Based Guided Self-Help

Nearly half of all college students have a diagnosable mental health problem. College
counseling centers (CCCs) are faced with increasing demands for services from Universities,
students, and parents to meet the treatment needs of their students, in the context of
increasingly severe cases and declining resources. Innovative, cost effective solutions are
needed that can improve treatment effectiveness with a range of presenting problems while
reducing counselor workloads.

The current project seeks to meet these needs by recruiting participants at several CCCs
throughout the country to test a web-based guided self-help version of Acceptance and
Commitment Therapy, an evidence-based transdiagnostic therapy that has been found to
effectively treat a range of mental health problems by targeting experiential avoidance, the
tendency to avoid unwanted emotions and negative thoughts. An ACT program would provide a
means of implementing effective treatment for the range of problems encountered in the CCC
setting, while the online guided self-help format would reduce counselors' workload for each
client, improving cost effectiveness and reducing waiting lists. This product would both
treat students through a series of self-help modules and train CCC counselors in how to
implement the guided self-help ACT intervention.

For the current phase (Phase I) of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant,
three self-help modules (mindfulness, acceptance of difficult thoughts and feelings, and
values exploration) have been developed, as well as a counselor portal to review students'
use of the program and to receive training on implementing ACT guided self-help. The current
study is a pre-post feasibility trial with at least 20 counselors and 60 clients (3 student
clients per CCC counselor) from different CCCs throughout the country. The study is an open
trial in which all counselors and clients will use the program and complete assessments and
pre and post. The study will examine the initial feasibility, efficacy and acceptability of
the program with both students and counselors. These findings will inform the development of
a final commercial program to be marketed to CCCs.

Inclusion Criteria for Counselors:

- Currently working at a College Counseling Center

- Willingness to take the ACT guided self-help training through the counselor portal
until reaching a passing criterion of 80%

- Willingness to distribute flyers about the study to five students, in an attempt to
recruit 3 clients to participate in the self-help modules

Exclusion Criteria for Counselors:

- Prior participation in this study

Inclusion Criteria for Student Clients:

- Currently being treated at a College Counseling Center

- Willingness to participate in three half-hour modules as part of a web-based guided
self-help program and complete pre and post assessments across a period of 4 weeks

- Referred to the study/self-help modules by counselor

- Participation will comply with targeted enrollment plans, and attention will be paid
to selecting an ethnically/racially diverse group

- Student is clinically stable as per counselor judgment (e.g., not actively suicidal,
psychotic, or disruptive)

Exclusion Criteria for Student Clients:

- Under 18

- Lack of fluency in English 7th grade level

- Prior participation in this study

- Students with current psychotic disorders, risk of harm to self or others, or needing
close medical and/or psychiatric oversight will be excluded, based on counselor
assessment.