Electronic Bridge to Mental Health for College Students (eBridge)

This randomized controlled trial will examine the efficacy of the intervention, Electronic Bridge to Mental Health for College Students (eBridge), in a large-scale, multi-university trial involving students at the University of Michigan, the University of Iowa, the University of Nevada-Reno, and Stanford University. Subject recruitment will take place in the fall academic semester during each year of data collection. All 6-month follow-up assessments will occur 5 to 6 months later and before many students leave campus for a spring or summer break. The study team will send recruitment emails between late September and October, and five to six-month follow-up emails in March or April. Student email addresses will be obtained from the registrar database of each participating university, per the standard Institutional Review Board and administrative process for obtaining such directory information for research studies. Furthermore, this process uses methods to maximize the security and confidentiality of the students' data, such as giving them unique identifiers to log into the web site (rather than identifiers that contain their name or email address) and using state-of-the-art security software to protect the website from having information intercepted. The planned number of student names and email addresses for possible participation will be randomly drawn. The study team will then send emails inviting students into the study, with up to 3 reminders spaced by 3-4 days for those who have yet to respond. The emails will note that students can reply and decline participation (and any further reminders). For those interested in participating, the email will contain a link to a secure web site where they can view the informed consent and decide whether to participate. The eBridge invitation email, screening, and all subsequent contacts via the Internet are confidential.

Personalized Feedback (PF) will be delivered online and provide feedback to students about their self-reported depression, alcohol/substance use, and level of functioning. This report is a briefer, modified version of the Personalized Feedback Report used in COMBINE, the multi-site clinical trial conducted to study the efficacy of treatments for alcohol dependence. The report highlights personal data and specifies links between our key screening variables and risk of negative outcomes. In the eBridge condition, PF is provided in a graphic format that is accompanied by MI-adherent statements. In addition, students in the eBridge condition have the option of viewing or not viewing their PF, and of choosing to observe their PF in one or more domain.

Students' communications with eBridge counselors (MI-trained mental health professionals) will occur via online dialogues, in which students and counselors exchange messages using a secure web site. The total duration of the exchanges is expected to be brief, in keeping with MI approaches used in medical settings to consider behavior change and/or treatment recommendations and as found in our R34 study. Students will be able to communicate with eBridge counselors using asynchronized communication (with email notification that response has been posted on secure website) at any time.

Personalized Feedback (PF) will also be delivered online to students in the control condition, providing information to students about their self-reported depression, alcohol/substance use, and level of functioning. As for students in the eBridge condition, it will highlight their personal data and specify links between key screening variables and negative outcomes. However, in the control condition, this is provided in a straightforward graphic, informational format, which is consistent with standard practice in online screening programs for college students (e.g., www.ulifeline.org). All students in the control condition receive their PF immediately upon completing their screening survey (automatic next screen).

Each student, regardless of study condition, will see a list of campus and community resources for mental health and alcohol/substance abuse treatment, and for crisis services. These will be presented on each webpage of both the screening survey and the PF report. The resource information list has been uploaded to this application as an additional document.