Interactive Screening Program
In 2001, AFSP began developing an innovative, web-based screening method to identify college students at risk for suicide and encourage them to get treatment. In collaboration with Emory University in Atlanta, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the method was pilot-tested over a three-year period (2002-2005).
Students were invited to participate in the Interactive Screening Program (formerly the College Screening Project) through an email from university officials and were directed to a secure, program-developed website where they completed a brief questionnaire that covers depression and related problems. An experienced clinician reviewed all responses and wrote a detailed personalized assessment, which was sent back to the student's self-assigned "username" on the program website. Students whose questionnaire responses suggested significant problems were urged to come in for a face-to-face evaluation with the clinician. A "dialogue" feature on the website also allowed students to exchange follow-up messages with the clinician while remaining anonymous. Students who came for evaluation were followed up to determine whether they entered treatment, and what impact the treatment had.
Results obtained from the pilot test show that about 85 percent of students who completed the screening questionnaire were experiencing significant psychological problems and were not receiving any form of treatment. About 20 percent of such students eventually came for a face-to-face evaluation. The online, anonymous dialogues played a key role in encouraging help-seeking. Students who used this feature of the website were three times more likely than others to come for an evaluation and to enter treatment. The dialogues appeared to provide an opportunity for students who were wary about treatment to resolve concerns about such issues as confidentiality, costs, parental notification and possible administrative sanctions if they admitted to suicidal ideation or behavior.
Overall, the pilot test data suggested that the Interactive Screening Program is a promising approach to reaching out to seriously disturbed students who would not otherwise seek help. Beginning in 2006, the program has been expanded to include graduate and professional students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pittsburgh Medical School, the University of Maine, and the University of Puget Sound and Heritage University in Washington state. The program is about to begin at the University of California, San Diego, where the target groups for the screening initiative will include medical students, medical residents, Fellows and medical school faculty. Also being explored is implementation of the ISP in corporations and other worksites. AFSP is looking to expand the program -- through a dissemination effort that is utilizing AFSP chapters -- to 30 sites nationwide by 2010.
The program was presented at an American Psychiatric Association symposium on campus suicide in Toronto in May 2006, and has been featured in the following publications:
Results of the pilot phase of the program are presented in the following two papers:
Questions about the Interactive Screening Program should be addressed to: Dr. Ann Haas, AFSP director of prevention projects, ahaas@afsp.org, or (207) 236-2475.
The program started with funding from Eli Lilly and Co., Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc., Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Recent donations were provided by the Out of the Darkness walks, the Raynier Institute & Foundation, and from the Johnny Foundation and the Kristin Rita Strouse Foundation.
