Counselling Intervention for College Students Experienced Psychological Distress

NCT06333444 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: n. 08, 09/03/2021
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 100
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate mental health and academic motivation in university students asking help to university counselling service (UCS) in Southern Italy before anf after four weekly psychological sessions. The main question it aims to answer are:

• is the psychological counselling intervention useful in improving psychological distress and academic motivation
• which psychological variables predict the intervention outcome

Conditions

University Students; Psychological Intervention; Psychological Distress

Keywords

university students; university counselling service; mental health; academic motivation

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• psychological distress

  To measure psychological distress and problems, the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) (Barkham et al., 1998; Evans et al., 2000). The CORE-OM is a 34-item self-report measure that evaluates the level of psychological distress will be used. The measure covers four domains: subjective well-being (4 items), problems/symptoms (depression: 4 items, anxiety: 4 items, physical problems: 2 items, trauma: 2 items); life/social functioning (close relationships: 4 items, social relationships: 4 items, general functioning: 4 items), and risk to self and others (6 items). Higher scores indicate higher levels of distress. To distinguish between clinical and non-clinical cut-off values, the four dimensions (scales for both males and females) indicated in the original validation and the Italian version (Evans et al., 2002; Palmieri et al., 2009) will be considered.

  before and after the treatment, up to 7 weeks

• Academic motivation

  The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) is a 20-item self-report questionnaire designed to evaluate the regulation of motivation based on the self-determination theory. Academic motivation is conceptualized according to the degree of autonomy on which the individual behavior is based, expressed through a continuum of increasing self-determination, from not self-determined (amotivation pole) to self-determined (autonomous regulation pole) behavior, from being externally motivated to becoming internally and autonomously driven to perform certain behaviors. The items are rated on a five-point Likert scale (0 = does not correspond at all to 7 = corresponds exactly) and distributed in five subscales--amotivation, external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and intrinsic motivation. Scores frange from 0 to 140. High score subscale indicates higher endorsement of that motivation type.

  before and after the psychological intervention, up to 7 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Emotion regulation ability

  before and after the treatment, up to 7 weeks

• perceived loneliness

  before and after the intervention, up to 7 weeks

• drop-out intention

  before and after the intervention, up to 7 weeks

Study Arms (1)

Psychological intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

four weekly psychological counselling intervention

Behavioral: four weekly psychological counselling intervention

Interventions

four weekly psychological counselling intervention BEHAVIORAL

four weekly psychological counselling intervention delivered by university students asking help to university counselling service in Southern Italy

Psychological intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 30 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• being university students who asked psychological help to university counselling service and completed the intervention

You may not qualify if:

• do not speak Italian

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Campania

Caserta, 81100, Italy

RECRUITING

Related Publications (3)

• Beiter R, Nash R, McCrady M, Rhoades D, Linscomb M, Clarahan M, Sammut S. The prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample of college students. J Affect Disord. 2015 Mar 1;173:90-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.054. Epub 2014 Nov 8.

  PMID: 25462401 BACKGROUND

• Batra K, Sharma M, Batra R, Singh TP, Schvaneveldt N. Assessing the Psychological Impact of COVID-19 among College Students: An Evidence of 15 Countries. Healthcare (Basel). 2021 Feb 17;9(2):222. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9020222.

  PMID: 33671363 BACKGROUND

• Auerbach RP, Alonso J, Axinn WG, Cuijpers P, Ebert DD, Green JG, Hwang I, Kessler RC, Liu H, Mortier P, Nock MK, Pinder-Amaker S, Sampson NA, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Al-Hamzawi A, Andrade LH, Benjet C, Caldas-de-Almeida JM, Demyttenaere K, Florescu S, de Girolamo G, Gureje O, Haro JM, Karam EG, Kiejna A, Kovess-Masfety V, Lee S, McGrath JJ, O'Neill S, Pennell BE, Scott K, Ten Have M, Torres Y, Zaslavsky AM, Zarkov Z, Bruffaerts R. Mental disorders among college students in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Psychol Med. 2016 Oct;46(14):2955-2970. doi: 10.1017/S0033291716001665. Epub 2016 Aug 3.

  PMID: 27484622 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Psychological Well-Being

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Personal Satisfaction; Behavior

Central Study Contacts

Alda Troncone, PhD

CONTACT

+39800252420; alda.troncone@unicampania.it

Gaia Caldarelli, PhD student

CONTACT

+39800252420; gaia.caldarelli@unicampania.it

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Model Details: Four weekly psychological counselling intervention

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 19, 2024
• First Posted: March 27, 2024
• Study Start: January 1, 2022
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2024
• Study Completion: December 31, 2025
• Last Updated: March 27, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-03

Locations

IT (1)