College student interest in teletherapy and self-guided mental health supports during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened college students' mental health while simultaneously creating new barriers to traditional in-person care. Teletherapy and online self-guided mental health supports are two potential avenues for addressing unmet mental health needs when face-to-face services are less accessible, but little is known about factors that shape interest in these supports. Participants: 1,224 U.S. undergraduate students (mean age = 20.7; 73% female; 40% White) participated. Methods: Students completed an online questionnaire assessing interest in teletherapy and self-guided supports. Predictors included age, sex, race/ethnicity, sexual minority status, and anxiety and depression symptomatology. Results: Interest rates were 20% and 25% for at-cost supports (teletherapy and online self-help, respectively) and 70% and 72% for free supports (teletherapy and online self-help, respectively). Patterns emerged by age, anxiety symptom severity, and race/ethnicity. Conclusions: Results may inform universities' efforts to optimize students' engagement with nontraditional, digital mental health supports, including teletherapy and self-guided programs.The SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19) pandemic has taken a severe toll on public health, with effects reaching far beyond unprecedented illness and mortality. Levels of mental health difficulties appear to be rising broadly as the pandemic has progressed, both in the general U.S. population and among college students specifically.1,2 The COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions may undermine college student mental health in myriad ways.2 Concurrently, students now face the potential for serious illness, loss of loved ones, financial strain, social isolation, loss of on-campus resources, and sudden disruption of routines-creating a "perfect storm" for the emergence or exacerbation of psychological distress.

Discrimination and psychosocial engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic

Emerging evidence suggests that the effects of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have disproportionately impacted minoritized populations, including rising rates of hate crimes directed at Asian Americans. Asian and White students (N = 1,261) at a large public university completed a survey of their experiences during the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic. Measures included anxiety, depression, academic engagement, and experienced discrimination. Using structural equation modeling, we found that Asian participants reported experiencing higher discrimination during the first month of the pandemic (e.g., being treated as if you have a disease) compared to White participants. Experienced discrimination was associated with significantly higher levels of depression and anxiety and significantly lower levels of academic engagement. In addition to the physical and economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, racism and discrimination may pose unique challenges for Asian Americans in particular. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)