Assessing the Efficacy of a Campus-Based Transdiagnostic Intervention for Filipino College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ABSTRACT

With increasing rates of college students with various mental health concerns, The gap between students’ mental health needs and services available is growing wider. The present study aims to design a campus-based transdiagnostic intervention that can be implemented to address college student mental health. Utilizing a two-arm randomized controlled trial, the results showed that transdiagnostic intervention is effective in lowering psychological distress and transdiagnostic mechanisms (e.g. intolerance of uncertainty, repetitive negative thinking, experiential avoidance, and distress intolerance). The effectiveness of transdiagnostic intervention as a campus-based mental health program in a low-income, Asian country responds to the call for a shift toward alternative low-intensity treatment approaches that can have a greater public mental health impact.

KEYWORDS:

• College mental health
• randomized controlled trial
• transdiagnostic intervention
• transdiagnostic mechanisms

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the first author upon reasonable request.