It is estimated that about one in three students is affected by a mental disorder, yet only a minority of students receive treatment. Caring Universities is a Dutch university initiative that is...Show moreIt is estimated that about one in three students is affected by a mental disorder, yet only a minority of students receive treatment. Caring Universities is a Dutch university initiative that is part of an international project and tries to combat the issue of low treatment rates by offering free, guided e-Health programs. The uptake rates of the CU programs remain low, so the current study aimed to investigate which attitudes students hold about the CU programs and e-Health that might act as barriers to uptake, as well as possible predictors of the selfestimated likelihood of doing a CU program, like several barriers, the current level of general distress, positive treatment experience and the number of close people in treatment. Open questions were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis while the predictors were examined via multiple regression analysis. Results showed that important reasons for the students to not definitely do a CU program were preferring other sources of help, unfamiliarity with CU, the preference for self-management, dislike for online treatment, shame or difficulty with sharing, doubts about the effectiveness, and time constraints. Concerning the predictors, the preference for handling problems by oneself, doubts about effectiveness, and other barriers specified in an open text answer significantly decreased the likelihood of doing a CU program, while anticipating problems with time and scheduling increased it. Possible reasons why the other factors failed to predict the likelihood and future directions are discussed. To conclude, several barriers were identified that inform the development of implementation strategies.Show less
More than a third of students worldwide suffer from psychological problems - a concerning number that could rise in upcoming years. Caring Universities (CU) is an initiative of nine Dutch...Show moreMore than a third of students worldwide suffer from psychological problems - a concerning number that could rise in upcoming years. Caring Universities (CU) is an initiative of nine Dutch institutions to combat these issues. With eight evidence-based online programmes, CU strives to improve student wellbeing. The programmes include self-help, psychoeducation, and the weekly tracking of an e-coach. However, there is a large number of dropouts across programmes. Using a mixed-method design, potential reasons for dropout were investigated qualitatively, while medication and additional psychotherapy were researched quantitatively as predictors of dropout. Participants completed a demographic and dropout questionnaire on the CU platform. Results of the qualitative analysis (N = 40) showed that time pressure and a lack of motivation were the most prevalent reasons for dropping out. Experiencing stress and the lack of feedback were recurring themes of the narrative accounts. In the quantitative investigation (N = 4331), neither medication nor psychotherapy significantly affected dropout, meaning that future CU programmes will not have to correct or account for them. Limitations include the measurements based on self-report and the way dropout was defined. Future research should take into account more reasons for and predictors of dropout from eHealth programmes for students, like language.Show less
