The purpose of this study is to investigate the acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, and preliminary effectiveness of a college course grounded in skills from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) titled, "Wellness and Resilience for College and Beyond." The study takes place on 5 college campuses in Pennsylvania and West Virginia offering the Wellness Course during the 2020 calendar year (Spring and Fall 2020 semesters). The Wellness Course is an undergraduate college course that includes 14 two and a half hour long lessons, weekly homework assignments and tracking of skills use via a "diary card," and a cumulative final exam at the end of the semester. Students who choose to enroll in the wellness course are offered the opportunity to enroll in the study and a comparison sample of students not enrolled are recruited from each site.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
295
The course, "Wellness and Resilience for College and Beyond" was originally developed by James Mazza, PhD and colleagues at the University of Washington as a 10-week course. The course developers adapted their course materials to fit the needs of a 16-week semester for the purpose of this study. The Wellness Course teaches students evidence-based skills for improving mental health from dialectical behavior therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and the field of positive psychology. Classes meet for 2.5 hours weekly with approximately half of class time spent on teaching new content (lecture) and the other half spent with students working in small groups on practice and discussion exercises.
University of Pittsburgh, Greensburg Campus
Greensburg, Pennsylvania, United States
Carlow University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
West Virginia University
Morgantown, West Virginia, United States
Acceptability of the Wellness Course: Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM)
Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) is a 4 item scale. Respondents provide ratings using Likert type ratings ranging from 1-5, where 1= completely disagree and 5=completely agree. The ratings are summed and the average is taken.
Time frame: End of semester timepoint (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Appropriateness of the Wellness Course: Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM)
Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM) is a 4 item scale. Respondents provide ratings using Likert type ratings ranging from 1-5, where 1= completely disagree and 5=completely agree. The ratings are summed and the average is taken.
Time frame: End of semester timepoint (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Feasibility of the Wellness Course: Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM)
Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM) is a 4 item scale. Respondents provide ratings using Likert type ratings ranging from 1-5, where 1= completely disagree and 5=completely agree. The ratings are summed and the average is taken.
Time frame: End of semester timepoint (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Change in Use of Adaptive Coping Skills from Baseline to End of Semester (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Ways of Coping Checklist (DBT WCCL) - Adaptive Skills Use Subscale. The DBT WCCL is a 59 item scale for which respondents provide ratings of their coping skills use on a Likert type scale from 0-3, where 0=Never Used and 3=Regularly Used. The adaptive coping sub-scale includes 38 items which are summed and averaged.
Time frame: Baseline and end of semester (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Change in Use of Adaptive Coping Skills from End of Semester (approximately 4 months after baseline) to 3-Month Follow-up
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Ways of Coping Checklist (DBT WCCL) - Adaptive Skills Use Subscale. The DBT WCCL is a 59 item scale for which respondents provide ratings of their coping skills use on a Likert type scale from 0-3, where 0=Never Used and 3=Regularly Used. The adaptive coping sub-scale includes 38 items which are summed and averaged.
Time frame: End of semester (approximately 4 months after baseline) and 3-month follow-up
Change in Use of Adaptive Coping Skills from Baseline to 3-Month Follow-up
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Ways of Coping Checklist (DBT WCCL) - Adaptive Skills Use Subscale. The DBT WCCL is a 59 item scale for which respondents provide ratings of their coping skills use on a Likert type scale from 0-3, where 0=Never Used and 3=Regularly Used. The adaptive coping sub-scale includes 38 items which are summed and averaged.
Time frame: Baseline and 3-month follow-up
Change in Emotion Dysregulation from Baseline to End of Semester (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale - Short Form is an 18 item scale. Respondents provide ratings on the frequency with which they struggle with various facets of emotion regulation using a Likert type scale ranging from 1-5, where 1= Almost Never (0-10% of the time and 5=Almost Always (91-100% of the time). Scores are summed and the average is taken.
Time frame: Baseline and end of semester (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Change in Emotion Dysregulation from End of Semester to 3-month follow-up
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale - Short Form is an 18 item scale. Respondents provide ratings on the frequency with which they struggle with various facets of emotion regulation using a Likert type scale ranging from 1-5, where 1= Almost Never (0-10% of the time and 5=Almost Always (91-100% of the time). Scores are summed and the average is taken.
Time frame: End of semester (approximately 4 months after baseline) and 3-month follow-up
Change in Emotion Dysregulation from Baseline to 3-month follow-up
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale - Short Form is an 18 item scale. Respondents provide ratings on the frequency with which they struggle with various facets of emotion regulation using a Likert type scale ranging from 1-5, where 1= Almost Never (0-10% of the time and 5=Almost Always (91-100% of the time). Scores are summed and the average is taken.
Time frame: Baseline and 3-month follow-up
Percent of Subjects with Past-30 Day Suicide Ideation at Baseline
Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire - Revised Version is a 4 item scale which assesses suicidality using a range of response options specific to each item, with items indicating higher risk being given more points. Item 1 assesses for suicide ideation and in this study, this is treated as a dichotomous variable.
Time frame: Baseline
Percent of Subjects with Past-30 Day Suicide Ideation at End of Semester (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire - Revised Version is a 4 item scale which assesses suicidality using a range of response options specific to each item, with items indicating higher risk being given more points. Item 1 assesses for suicide ideation and in this study, this is treated as a dichotomous variable.
Time frame: End of semester (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Percent of Subjects with Past-30 Day Suicide Ideation at 3-month follow-up
Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire - Revised Version is a 4 item scale which assesses suicidality using a range of response options specific to each item, with items indicating higher risk being given more points. Item 1 assesses for suicide ideation and in this study, this is treated as a dichotomous variable.
Time frame: 3-month follow-up
Change in Past-30 Day Suicide Risk from Baseline to End of Semester (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire - Revised Version is a 4 item scale which assesses suicidality using a range of response options specific to each item, with items indicating higher risk being given more points. Scores on all 4 items can be summed. In college students a sum score of greater than or equal to 7 is associated with current suicide risk.
Time frame: Baseline and end of semester (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Change in Past-30 Day Suicide Risk from End of Semester (approximately 4 months after baseline) to 3-month follow-up
Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire - Revised Version is a 4 item scale which assesses suicidality using a range of response options specific to each item, with items indicating higher risk being given more points. Scores on all 4 items can be summed. In college students a sum score of greater than or equal to 7 is associated with current suicide risk.
Time frame: End of semester (approximately 4 months after baseline) and 3-month follow-up
Change in Past-30 Day Suicide Risk from Baseline to 3-month follow-up
Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire - Revised Version is a 4 item scale which assesses suicidality using a range of response options specific to each item, with items indicating higher risk being given more points. Scores on all 4 items can be summed. In college students a sum score of greater than or equal to 7 is associated with current suicide risk.
Time frame: Baseline and 3-month follow-up
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