Exploring the Feasibility of Bi-Weekly Monitoring and its Impact on Goal Attainment and Help Seeking in Young Adults

Mental health in young adults can vary significantly with a large proportion struggling with clinical disorders. Despite the high prevalence of psychopathology, many do not receive help. Relevant barriers to help-seeking include self-reliance, lack of awareness of symptoms or sources of help, and stigma. Measurement Feedback Systems (MFSs) and self-monitoring are potential avenues to assist in treatment engagement. In this study, Bi-Weekly Monitoring with Informational Feedback (BWM) was implemented in a college student population (N = 74) where students were asked to report on their overall psychological functioning and set goals every other week. BWM was evaluated for feasibility, effects on help-seeking overall, and mechanisms of self-monitoring were explored. BWM was determined to be feasible in this population; although, help-seeking attitudes did not change over time as a result of BWM. Ancillary analyses explored the effects of BWM and mental health symptomatology. Participants reported on their attitudes towards BWM which were generally in favor of BWM. Some promising results emerged; however, they were largely statistically insignificant. Limitations of this study include a large drop-out rate in the control group, which left unequal groups. As such, analyses should be interpreted with caution. Future studies should evaluate BWM on a weekly basis with a larger sample to better understand the effects of BWM on self-monitoring mechanisms.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Clincal Psychology

Department dc:contributor.department

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Gatto, Alyssa J.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Cooper, Lee D.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Kim-Spoon, Jungmeen
• Clum, George A.

• Measurement Feedback System
• Self-Monitoring
• Help-Seeking
• Feedback
• Barriers

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/82828

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/82828