Consortium Mental Health and Counseling Study

The Center for the Study of Collegiate Mental Health (CSCMH) at the Pennsylvania State University is an emerging multi-disciplinary research center focused on providing accurate and up-to-date information about the mental health of today's college students in order to serve the needs of mental health providers, administrators, researchers, and the public. CSCMH has partnered with the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) to administer the NASPA Assessment and Knowledge Consortium Study on Mental Health and Counseling.

The Consortium Mental Health and Counseling Study is comprised of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS) and additional mental health-related questions. The CCAPS is a 62-item validated instrument comprised of eight scales covering the topics of: depression, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, academic distress, eating concerns, family distress, hostility, and substance abuse. The first CCAPS was developed in 2001 by Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Michigan, although management has now moved to the Center for the Study of Collegiate Mental Health (CSCMH).

The remaining questions assess student experiences both before and after enrolling in college with various mental health concerns, including but not limited to, attending counseling, hospitalization, and suicidal ideation. The study includes a set of standard demographics questions. In addition to institution-specific data, the Mental Health and Counseling Student Study provides comparison data for benchmarking with national averages and with peer campuses.

View the student survey questions.

SIGN UP for the Consortium Mental Health and Counseling Study.

Population for the Study

The population for this study is a random sample of enrolled students. Campuses have the option to survey the entire population of students or a stratified random sample of students. The sample should be stratified by class standing to ensure representation from each class year. No minors will be invited to participate in this study.

Fees

The Consortium Mental Health and Counseling Study is part of the 2009-2010 NASPA Assessment and Knowledge Consortium. Campuses may subscribe to the Consortium by clicking here: http://www.naspaconsortium.org/register/. StudentVoice Member Campuses on an annual license may participate in the Consortium Mental Health and Counseling Study as part of their StudentVoice license. For information about becoming a StudentVoice Member Campus, contact info@studentvoice.com.

If your campus is not a subscribing Consortium campus or a StudentVoice Member Campus, you may opt to participate in just this student assessment at a reduced fee. The fee for campuses with less than 5000 undergraduate students is $1500. The fee for campuses with more than 5000 undergraduate students is $2000. The fee includes the administration of the survey to an unlimited number of students, data reporting tools, and access to dynamic benchmarking reports. For questions about fees, please contact info@studentvoice.com.

SIGN UP for the Consortium Mental Health and Counseling Study.

Timeline

Ongoing:
Enrollment in the Consortium Mental Health and Counseling Student Survey. Sign up for the study. Upon sign-up, additional information and next steps are provided to ensure a successful administration of the project on your campus.

Ongoing:
Seek Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, if required. Review a sample IRB template.

January-April:
Data collection. Institution-specific data is available in real-time.

June:
Benchmarking data is available.

Common Concerns

Concern: Asking students about their intent to harm themselves or others raises ethical concerns regarding the protection of students and the campus community. It can be argued that students who indicate that they have seriously considered attempting suicide or considered seriously injuring another student should be followed-up with by a counselor or other mental health professional on campus.
Response: To address this ethical concern, contact information for campus resources for mental health and counseling services will be included in both the invitation email and at the end of every survey. Students who are experiencing difficulties will therefore be given information through the survey process on where to go to seek help.

Concern: The IRB on my campus will not permit us to ask questions regarding suicidal ideation or intent to harm other students without clinical follow up.
Response: All questions added to the CCAPS-62 are optional. Although we have deemed the questions important enough to the mission of the survey and the Assessment and Knowledge Consortium goals, we understand that at some institutions, these questions will need to be removed. Please contact an assessment professional at StudentVoice (consortium@studentvoice.com) to discuss your options regarding the modification of the survey for your institution.