Stress is a part of many Creighton students’ daily lives. However, what happens when stress leads to depression or suicidal thoughts?
To further assist students who may need counseling but are reluctant to seek it, the Center for Health and Counseling is implementing the Interactive Screening Program, an online screening method that allows students to remain anonymous while communicating with counselors.
According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the screening method was developed in 2001 and designed to identify college students at risk for suicide and promote treatment. A pilot test took place over a three-year period, from 2002-2005, at a private university with 6,000 undergraduates and a state university with 17,000 undergraduates.
In June and early July, Arts & Sciences junior Erin Sarmiento introduced and explained the new screening method to Dr. Michael Kelly, the director of the Center for Health and Counseling, after learning about it from an AFSP Out-of-the-Darkness event.
“I had seen brochures and e-mails, but when Erin spoke with me personally, I realized it was a very interesting program and looked into it,” said Kelly.
After several months of planning, including building the Web site and training counselors, Creighton will be the first university in Nebraska to implement a trial run of ISP, according to Sarmiento. AFSP provides the software at no cost to either the Center of Health and Counseling or the students utilizing ISP.
“I want people to feel comfortable about talking to someone,” said Sarmiento, “ISP acts as a motivator to help people seek counseling and be more open in dealing with their problems.”
Of the 14,500 invited in 2002-2005 for the trial run, approximately 1,162 or 8 percent submitted questionnaires, according to an article in the Journal of American College Health. Approximately 85 percent of students who responded to the questionnaire had untreated physiological problems. Kelly said the Center for Health and Counseling has gauged the amount of staff time as well as the size of the student response from the trial run and is confident of a similar response, where distressed students are more prone to respond to the questionnaire.
In November, about 100-200 randomly chosen Creighton freshmen will receive an invitation via email to complete a questionnaire online. Located at a secure Web site, the students will be provided with a username and password to ensure anonymity. The questionnaire should take approximately 10 minutes and focuses on stress, anxiety and other depression-related problems that may be present in the students’ lives.
The assessment will then be scored as well as being assessed by a Creighton counselor. The counselor will review and send the assessment back with the score and available counseling resources. The student can then go to the Web site, which also provides a “dialogue” option where the student can converse with counselors anonymously and review the results as well as make an appointment with a counselor.
“Many students are resistant to counseling because of societal barriers and their own belief system,” said Kelly, “With the online assessment, we can identify distressed students and overcome that reluctance with a personal invitation.”
AFSP is looking to expand ISP to 30 more sites by 2010.