Time for a Change: College Students' Preference for In-Person versus Technology Mediated Help for Emotional Distress
type: CreativeWork
description: Background: Even with recent advances in psychological treatment and internet technology, online computerized therapy is not popular. The college population with almost universal access to both computers and the internet and a high rate of psychological distress could be an important area for the dissemination of evidence-based online computerized therapy. Introduction: This survey evaluated the current trends among college students in terms of help seeking behaviors, availability of technological devices, and willingness to share personal information online. Materials and Methods: An online survey was distributed to 572 university students to assess a variety of issues pertaining to means and willingness to seek treatment. This survey included ownership/plans for ownership of technological devices, likelihood of seeking face-to-face or online help from a variety of devices, willingness to disclose information online compared to face-to-face, and interest in playing computer games designed to work as psychotherapy. In addition, the Mental Health Inventory was included as an index of mental health. Results: Over 98% of participants reported ownership of mobile technology. No relationship between severity of mental health problems and avenue of help seeking was found. Asian Americans were more likely to be non-treatment seekers and were less likely to seek face-to-face only help relative to other ethnicities. In terms of information disclosure 35.7% of participants were more likely to disclose equal or more information online compared to face-to-face treatment. The majority of participants indicated high interest for playing serious games for emotional distress. Implications for avenues for technological mental health dissemination are discussed. Discussion/Conclusion: Our results suggest that college students on average perceive online modalities of emotional help seeking to be just as potentially beneficial as more traditional, face-to-face professional help setting…
abstract: Background: Even with recent advances in psychological treatment and internet technology, online computerized therapy is not popular. The college population with almost universal access to both computers and the internet and a high rate of psychological distress could be an important area for the dissemination of evidence-based online computerized therapy. Introduction: This survey evaluated the current trends among college students in terms of help seeking behaviors, availability of technological devices, and willingness to share personal information online. Materials and Methods: An online survey was distributed to 572 university students to assess a variety of issues pertaining to means and willingness to seek treatment. This survey included ownership/plans for ownership of technological devices, likelihood of seeking face-to-face or online help from a variety of devices, willingness to disclose information online compared to face-to-face, and interest in playing computer games designed to work as psychotherapy. In addition, the Mental Health Inventory was included as an index of mental health. Results: Over 98% of participants reported ownership of mobile technology. No relationship between severity of mental health problems and avenue of help seeking was found. Asian Americans were more likely to be non-treatment seekers and were less likely to seek face-to-face only help relative to other ethnicities. In terms of information disclosure 35.7% of participants were more likely to disclose equal or more information online compared to face-to-face treatment. The majority of participants indicated high interest for playing serious games for emotional distress. Implications for avenues for technological mental health dissemination are discussed. Discussion/Conclusion: Our results suggest that college students on average perceive online modalities of emotional help seeking to be just as potentially beneficial as more traditional, face-to-face professional help setting…
author: Lungu, Anita
language: en_US
keywords: College student survey research; Comparing help seeking via technology versus face-to-face; Help seeking for emotional health; Technology mediated help for emotional distress
date published: 2014-10-13
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:57:59Z
provider: University of Washington
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Washington

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1773/26353