National assessment and e-health interventions for mental health problems among university students

Swedish Partnership in The WHO World Mental Health International College Student (WMH-ICS) Study

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Project Summary

The life transition between late adolescence and emerging adulthood is often troubled, with one in three university students showing symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, help-seeking behavior is low due to emotional and practical barriers, generating a treatment gap. The purpose of this project is to map Swedish university students’ mental health problems and deliver e-health interventions to those at risk. The project is organized in four work packages (WPs) over five years. An annual epidemiological survey targeting first-year students maps mental health problems and disorders, including suicidal thoughts and behaviors (WP1), and annual follow-up surveys track participants’ developmental trajectories in terms of persisting problems and help-seeking behavior (WP2). Participating students are offered participation in a three-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT), delivering guided or unguided transdiagnostic e-treatment, with a 6-month waitlist for unguided treatment as a control group (WP3). At 3-week follow-up, treatment study participants who have not shown any improvement are randomized to personally adapted e-treatment or to continued WP3 treatment in a study-within-a-trial (WP4). The project builds on Swedish partnership with the WHO WMH-ICS 18-country international consortium. We envisage high potential for reducing mental health problems among Swedish university students, improving academic performance and reducing dropout.