Personalized Feedback Programs for College Students

Number of participants who report alcohol use in the past 30 days

Time frame: Baseline-3 months

Number of participants who report cannabis use in the past 30 days

Time frame: Baseline-3 months

Anxiety and depressive symptoms. Abbreviated scales from the Symptom Checklist-90 will be used to assess anxiety and depressive symptoms occurring within the last 30 days (Derogatis, Lipman, & Covi, 1973). Four items measured anxiety symptoms, and four items assessed depressive symptoms. Responses were rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (not at all, a little bit, moderately, quite a bit, and extremely). Total scores were calculated for both the anxiety and depression subscales. The scores on each subscale ranged from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 16. Higher scores reflect higher levels of anxiety and depression.

Time frame: 3 months

Ten items are included to assess participants' opinions about their condition. Response options include strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree. Examples of the statements include The length of the program was appropriate and I learned new information as part of this program. Total scores were averaged to create a mean satisfaction score. Mean scores ranged from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 5. Higher scores represented higher satisfaction with the program whereas lower scores represented dissatisfaction with the program.

Time frame: 3 months

Participants from each of the 4 groups were asked to indicate all of the VCU campus resources (e.g., recreation center, counseling center, writing center) they have utilized in the past 30 days from a list. Our team developed the list, which included 28 resources based on currently available resources for students at VCU. We summed the number of resources each participant used to create a resource use score. Scores ranged from 0 to 28 and corresponded to the number of resources the participant reported using (e.g., if the participant reported using 3 of the resources on the list, they received a score of 3 on the scale). Higher values represent higher levels of resource use, that is, a better outcome. Mean scores for each group were calculated and are displayed on the outcomes table below.

Time frame: 3 months

Risk comprehension will be assessed using 10 questions related to participants' beliefs about what factors contribute to substance use and mental health. Correct responses for each question were scored as 1, and incorrect responses were scored as 0. Responses are summed to yield a single score. Scores ranged from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 10. Higher scores indicate higher knowledge of risk for substance use problems.

Time frame: 3 months

Well-being was measured with the 14 item Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF; Keyes, 2009; Lamers et al., 2011). Each item asks about past-month frequency of an aspect of positive mental health (e.g., I felt happy) with response options ranging from never to every day. Higher scores reflect more positive well-being. Item scores ranged from 0 to 5 per item. Items were averaged to create a mean well-being measure for which measure scores ranged from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 5.

Time frame: 3 months