Mental Health Assessment and Online Therapy Strategies for University Students

This study is meant to provide a preliminary assessment of the mental health and well-being of university students in Saudi Arabia as well as to test the effectiveness of two online counselling approaches with university students in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. Although in different climatic environments Saudi Arabia and Malaysia are similar in a number of ways: Both are Muslim majority nations of a similar size (roughly 32 million people) that have experienced rapid economic growth and social change in recent history. Both nations also have very young populations, with approximately 45% of their citizens being under the age of 25 years. In recent years has become clear that there is a growing mental health crisis in Malaysia, and there is some evidence that there may be a similar trend developing in Saudi Arabia as well. The 2015 Malaysian National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS, 2015) indicated that 29.2% of the adult population of Malaysia was suffering from some form of mental health problem; nearly a 3-fold increase from the 1996 survey which indicated only a 10.7% prevalence of mental health issues. Other recent studies have corroborated these numbers (Maideen, Sidik, & Mukhtar, 2014; Rusli & Naing, 2008). Looking in turn at Saudi Arabia, a number of smaller studies have produced alarming results regarding the presence of depression, anxiety and other mental health issues within the kingdom. AlQahtani et al. (2016), for example, found evidence of depression in 48% of a sample of male university students. Similarly, Amr et al. (2013) found moderate to severe levels of depression and anxiety in 24% percent of a separate sample of university students. Given that worldwide the prevalence of depression is thought to be closer to 10% and that depression is very costly to society in terms of lost productivity, as well as being a contributing factor to other deadly disorders such as heart disease and substance abuse which also have a high social cost (Johansson, Carlbring, & Andersson, 2013; Lim, Jin, & Ng, 2012) this should be cause for concern. Fortunately, there is evidence that, especially among young adults, it is possible to help those at risk to effectively manage their mental health through training in various cognitive strategies and emotion regulation skills (Crisp, Gudmundsen, and Shirk, 2006). This project is intended to identify at-risk individuals and apply specially designed, internet-based interventions which should help participants to improve their overall functioning and well-being in the short-term, as well as provide skills that they can continually apply to improving their long-term (i.e. post-intervention) mental health. The first intervention uses an online intervention based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Beck, 2011) A second program consists of an adapts Emotion Regulation Therapy methods to be used with university students in an online-only environment. Both these programs will use text-based communication technologies to coach participants to better manage self-defeating thoughts and behaviors as well as to better manage their emotions. These programs have been designed to supplement existing university counselling services by providing more flexible, and anonymous mental health services for many who might not otherwise feel comfortable seeking treatment. If successful, these innovative delivery methods will allow proven treatment approaches to be delivered to a much greater proportion of at-risk students.