Talking Stick - July/August 2009 - 50

reporting out CAS Announces National Standards Symposium The Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) will hold its National Symposium on Standards, Self-Assessment, and Student Learning Outcomes in Higher Education November 15-17, 2009. The meeting will convene at the Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. To register, go to www.cas.edu. The early registration deadline is September 30, 2009, and space will be limited to 300 participants. This year also marks the council’s 30-year anniversary. New Study Looks at Counseling and Mental Health Since the establishment of college and university counseling centers in the 1940s, the face of mental health has changed on campuses, and students continue to be the focus for much mental health research. The Center for the Study of Collegiate Mental Health (CSCMH) at Pennsylvania State University in University Park released a pilot study in April 2009, the first study to use information directly from campus counseling centers to research current mental health trends in American higher education. Data was collected beginning August 2008 from 66 of the more than 135 schools nationwide that are registered with the center. Responses were collected from over 28,000 students who received mental health services in the 2008 fall semester. Using the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS), a standardized scale of nine major elements of mental health, the CSCMH 2009 Pilot Study researched trends within a number of mental health categories, including campus violence, academic success, alcohol and substance abuse, eating disorders and body image concerns, military experience, trauma, and religion and spirituality. Findings include the following: • Only 7 percent of respondents reported a strong fear of losing control or acting violently. These respondents were most likely to be male and to have previously harmed another person. They also were likely to experience a number of other related symptoms, including fear of having a panic attack in public and low academic motivation. • Students who struggled with symptoms related to depression and anxiety were more likely to report academic struggles. Academic distress was highest 50 Talking STick among international students, transfer students, students with lower levels of social support, and students who reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact. • One percent of students reported binge drinking 10 or more times in the previous two weeks. Nearly half of these respondents said they had seriously considered suicide in the past. • Students who reported higher levels of social support experienced significantly lower levels of depression, anxiety, hostility, social anxiety, and academic distress. The CSCMH Pilot Study offers suggestions for how these findings can be applied to both counseling centers and student affairs in general, such as methods for identifying students with eating disorders and improving social support. The study also discusses an outcome assessment used to show the results students experienced after receiving help from a mental health professional for specific issues. The report concludes, “The circular flow of data and refined data products within the CSCMH infrastructure represents an intriguing model for building an enduring bridge between science and practice. If the data provided by clients informed not just their treatment but also helpful clinical tools and information for mental health providers, the bridge between science and practice would be significantly enhanced.” The Center for the Study of Collegiate Mental Health is an emerging multidisciplinary research center focused on providing accurate and up-to-date information about the mental health of today’s college and university students in order to serve the needs of mental health providers, administrators, researchers, and the public. For more information on the 2009 CSCMH Pilot Study, visit www.sa.psu.edu/caps/research_center.shtml.

http://www.cas.edu http://www.sa.psu.edu/caps/research_center.shtml

Talking Stick - July/August 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - July/August 2009