Understanding the Need, Assessing the Evidence, and Identifying Steps Forward
May 2024
The number of college students reporting clinically significant mental health symptoms has doubled in the last decade. As students seek help in greater numbers, higher education leaders are considering the role of digital mental health interventions (DMHIs).
Our report "Digital Mental Health Interventions at Colleges and Universities: Understanding the Need, Assessing the Evidence, and Identifying Steps Forward"—commissioned by the Ruderman Family Foundation and compiled in partnership with the Healthy Minds Network and Boston University—is the first guide that presents a critical review of specific DMHIs offered to college students, and how they can play a role in efforts to improve mental health outcomes on college campuses.
It concludes that the majority of DMHIs that are commonly purchased by colleges and universities have limited direct evidence of effectiveness with college students. We raise this concern not to discourage the use of DMHIs, which may have an important role to play in supplementing traditional mental health services, but rather to present a roadmap for increasing the success of these tools.