Do College Students Use Online Self-Help? A Survey of Intentions and Use of Mental Health Resources

Abstract

Online self-help may help increase the reach of mental health services for college students, but little research has examined students' actual interest/use of these resources. An online survey of 389 college students examined intentions and use of online mental health resources as compared with other support options. Findings indicated the highest intentions/use of informal supports (e.g., parents, friends) for mental health problems and lowest intentions/use for online self-help. However, a subset of students showed a preference for online self-help over other forms of support. Participants were also more likely to request online self-help resources (21%) than in-person therapy resources (9%) when offered these options. Reported barriers were also identified for using mobile apps specifically (e.g., stigma, credibility, privacy). Overall, results suggest mixed findings and relatively low interest for use of online self-help among college students, while highlighting potential barriers that might be addressed to increase engagement.

Mental Health-Related Digital Use by University Students: A Systematic Review

“…was provided only by two studies and was, respectively, 58.3% 18 and 10%. 23 Sample size was calculated only in one study. 24 All studies included mixed gender with female students making up the largest groups, representing from 52.6% 21,25 to 77.6% 26 of the sample, excluding three studies.…”

“…18,22,27,31 All other students not using e-mental health reported that they had no need to look for either mental health information or support online. 18,23,32 Mental health-related digital use was associated with the presence of mental health problems in some studies, 18,26,31,37 but not in others 17,24,29 providing mixing results. Findings on the association between gender and emental health use were also unclear: gender differences were little for some authors, 29,38 but strong for others.…”

Does self-help increase rates of help seeking for student mental health problems by minimizing stigma as a barrier?

“…Intentions to seek help for a mental health problem were assessed with a modified version of the General Help Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ), 26 which included items assessing intentions to seek help from a mental health professional as well as various self-help resources. 20 Participants were asked "If you were struggling with a significant personal, emotional, or other mental health problem, how likely is it that you would seek help from the following sources?" Each resource was rated on a 7-point scale from 1 (extremely unlikely) to 7 (extremely likely), with 4 being a neutral score between 3 (unlikely) and 5 (likely).…”

“…This is consistent with research in other populations that regularly finds lower intentions to use self-help versus inperson treatment, [16][17][18] as well as a recent study finding similar results with college students. 20 However, self-help is more likely to be viewed as an additional, low intensity treatment option rather than a replacement for in-person therapy so this comparison is not the most relevant in determining whether self-help might improve treatment seeking rates. Rather, the question is whether a notable portion of individuals who are not willing to seek in-person treatment are willing to use self-help, which the current study found.…”

“…To-date we are aware of only two studies examining intentions to use online treatments relative to in-person therapy among college students specifically, with one indicating higher intentions to use online resources relative to in-person treatment, 19 and another indicating lower intentions to use self-help. 20 In summary, despite the potential promise of online and related self-help for overcoming stigma and increasing treatment seeking, the research todate is limited, particularly among students.…”