The uses of technology-delivered mental health treatment options, such as interventions delivered via computer, smart phone, or other communication or information devices, as opposed to primarily face-to-face interventions, are proliferating. However, the literature is unclear about their effectiveness as preventive interventions for higher education students, a population for whom technology-delivered interventions (TDIs) might be particularly fitting and beneficial. This meta-analytic review examines technological mental health prevention programs targeting higher education students either without any presenting problems (universal prevention) or with mild to moderate subclinical problems (indicated prevention). A systematic literature search identified 22 universal and 26 indicated controlled interventions, both published and unpublished, involving 4763 college, graduate, or professional students. As hypothesized, the overall mean effect sizes (ESs) for both universal (0.19) and indicated interventions (0.37) were statistically significant and differed significantly from each other favoring indicated interventions. Skill-training interventions, both universal (0.21) and indicated (0.31), were significant, whereas non-skill-training interventions were only significant among indicated (0.25) programs. For indicated interventions, better outcomes were obtained in those cases in which participants had access to support during the course of the intervention, either in person or through technology (e.g., email, online contact). The positive findings for both universal and indicated prevention are qualified by limitations of the current literature. To improve experimental rigor, future research should provide detailed information on the level of achieved implementation, describe participant characteristics and intervention content, explore the impact of potential moderators and mechanisms of success, collect post-intervention and follow-up data regardless of intervention completion, and use analysis strategies that allow for inclusion of cases with partially missing data.

Following a trend in the professional psychology literature, self-care has begun to receive increasing attention at the psychology graduate training level. A limited body of research has supported the value of self-care for the wellbeing of psychology trainees, and has suggested that graduate programs may play an important role in promoting self-care. The present research took a comprehensive approach to studying self-care among a sample of 358 doctoral students recruited from APA-accredited clinical psychology programs. Results demonstrated that self-care is associated with both greater personal wellbeing and better self-reported progress through graduate training, and that self-care can also serve as a buffer against the harmful effects of stress inherent to graduate training in psychology. Two particularly important aspects of self-care for psychology graduate students appeared to be building professional support systems and maintaining awareness of one's needs and reactions to stressors. Results also indicated that program culture related to student self-care, such that students who perceived greater emphasis on self-care within their programs reported engaging in more self-care. Finally, both quantitative and qualitative results suggested that graduate training programs can better promote self-care among students in several ways. Recommendations for graduate training programs include taking concrete action steps to encourage self-care among students, such as building formal education on self-care into existing coursework, offering targeted workshops or seminars, and encouraging faculty to provide effective models of self-care, with the ultimate goal of building a "culture" that values and promotes self-care as an essential component of training in psychology.

In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on the importance of self-care for psychologists and other mental health professionals. With the growth of positive psychology and preventive medicine, self-care is an emerging topic, promulgated as a means of avoiding the adverse effects of stress and promoting professional functioning and well-being. However, the research on self-care is limited because of the lack of an empirically based, psychometrically sound measure of this construct. Thus, the purpose of this project was to develop a measure of professional self-care. Professional psychologists were the focus of study, with the goal being to develop a measure that can be used in this population and similar groups of professionals. Based on expert feedback and a preliminary study of 422 licensed psychologists in Illinois, a 5-factor, 21-item scale was created. Factor analysis identified the following self-care factors: Professional Support, Professional Development, Life Balance, Cognitive Awareness, and Daily Balance. Preliminary analyses provided initial support for the validity of the 5 factors. A follow-up study was conducted with a second sample of clinical psychologists. The 5-factor structure provided a good fit to the data with the second sample. Thus, based on factor analysis and validity data, a 5-factor, 21-item Professional Self-Care Scale was established for further study and use in future research. (PsycINFO Database Record

Mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, are often associated with functional limitations after traumatic brain injury (TBI), prompting researchers to explore which of these TBI-related sequelae tends to precede the other. Past studies among patients with injuries ranging in severity have predominantly reported that functional impairments predict subsequent psychological concerns, rather than the other way around; however, it remains unclear whether this directionality holds for individuals with mild TBI (mTBI). The present study utilized a cross-lagged panel design within a structural equation modeling analytical framework to explore the longitudinal relationships of symptoms of depression and anxiety to functional status among 717 adult mTBI patients, with assessments occurring at 2 weeks and 3 months postinjury. Symptoms of both depression and anxiety significantly predicted subsequent functional limitations (ks =-0.21 and-0.25), whereas the reverse effects were nonsignificant (ks =-0.05 and-0.03); thus, psychological concerns appeared to function as a precursor to functional impairment. This pattern was particularly pronounced among patients with normal head computed tomography (CT) results; however, results were less clear cut among those subjects whose injuries were accompanied by intracranial abnormalities detected on CT imaging, suggesting the possibility of a more reciprocal relationship in the case of CT-positive mTBI. These results may serve to partially explain the incidence of persistent functional limitations observed among subsets of mTBI patients in past studies. Findings likewise highlight the importance of assessment and treatment for mental health problems after mTBI as an important factor to promote psychological wellbeing and functional recovery.