At a glance
This six-week pilot project brings together college student mentors and high school mentees both online and in-person,… Read full summary
- Funding received
- 2021-2022
- Mini
- Awarded
- $1,728
- Funding partners
-
- UW Resilience Lab (UWRL)
This six-week pilot project brings together college student mentors and high school mentees both online and in-person, discussing techniques for resilience and well-being. Creating a conduit for high school students preparing to enter college, UW students will be trained as effective mentors then matched with their mentees, working through a resilience-based curriculum so that all participants are able to navigate and manage stress.
“If students are struggling with mental health, they cannot learn well in school,” writes Niitsu and Lai. This program connects the experience of trained undergraduate mentors to the needs of high-school students.
A high school student’s life can be fun; at the same time, it can be stressful. In 2019, more than 1 in 3 high school students had experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and approximately 1 in 6 high school students reported making a suicide plan in the past year 1 . Although mental health in youth was already concerning, the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the situation. According to American Psychiatric Association2 , 81% of teenagers reported they have been negatively impacted by school closure due to the pandemic, including having less motivation to do schoolwork and having less involvement extracurricular activities. The main stressors in youths during the pandemic were lack of support for mental wellbeing, and social isolation / lack of social interactions 3.
Mental health among college students is similar. For example, the prevalence of anxiety among college students increased from 18.1% before the pandemic to 25.3% after the pandemic began, and from 21.5% to 31.7% for depression 4 . College students who were women, non-Hispanic Asian, in fair/poor health, of below-average relative family income were at an increased risk for negative psychological impact by the pandemic 5 . The main factors contributing to anxiety and depression symptoms among college students during the pandemic were distanced learning and social isolation.
American Psychological Association6 defines resilience as “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress”. Although this definition implies an exposure to adversity is required to show resilience, UW Resilience Lab recognizes the importance of taking more preventive approaches. PI is a fellow of Well-Being for Life and Learning at UW Resilience Lab, and we follow the continuum of care model of resilience that describes four phases: (1) Promotion, (2) Prevention, (3) Treatment, and (4) Recovery. Unfortunately, the Counseling Center at UW Bothell has been receiving an overwhelming number of students who are already in Treatment/Recovery phases during the pandemic. Although those college students urgently need a treatment, they must wait for months to see a therapist. This is why focusing on not only Treatment/Recover but also Promotion/Prevention phases is more important than ever.
UW resilience researchers emphasize three key resilience-promoting factors within the pandemic: (1) actively cultivating social support, (2) adaptive meaning, and (3) direct prosocial behaviors 7. One way to address them from a promotive/preventive approach is through peer-to- peer support. A meta-analysis reveals peer support interventions showed the highest effect size for depression and anxiety among college students compared to other community-based interventions 8. Another meta-analysis indicates peer-to-peer support has a modest positive impact on self-reported recovery and empowerment not only in mentees but also mentors as well9. Both in-person and online formats are effective to yield positive impacts on mental health in participants10.
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth risk behavior survey: Data summary & trends reports 2009 - 2019.
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/YRBSDataSummaryTrendsReport2019- 508.pdf
2. American Psychiatric Association. Stress in America 2020: A national mental health crisis. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/report-october
3. Rao ME, Rao DM. The mental health of high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Original Research. Frontiers in Education. 2021;6 doi:10.3389/feduc.2021.719539
4. Fruehwirth JC, Biswas S, Perreira KM. The Covid-19 pandemic and mental health of first- year college students: Examining the effect of Covid-19 stressors using longitudinal data. PLoS One. 2021;16(3):e0247999. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0247999
5. Browning M, Larson LR, Sharaievska I, et al. Psychological impacts from COVID-19 among university students: Risk factors across seven states in the United States. PLoS One. 2021;16(1):e0245327. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0245327
6. American Psychological Association. The road to resilience. http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx
7. PeConga EK, Gauthier GM, Holloway A, et al. Resilience is spreading: Mental health within the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.
2020;12(S1):S47-S48. doi:10.1037/tra0000874
8. Huang J, Nigatu YT, Smail-Crevier R, Zhang X, Wang J. Interventions for common mental health problems among university and college students: A systematic review and meta- analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2018;107:1-10. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.09.018
9. White S, Foster R, Marks J, et al. The effectiveness of one-to-one peer support in mental health services: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Psychiatry. 2020;20(1):534. doi:10.1186/s12888-020-02923-3
10. Suresh R, Alam A, Karkossa Z. Using peer support to strengthen mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Review. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2021;12:714181. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.714181
This is a 6-week pilot project that college student mentors and high school (HS) student mentees meet weekly in the hybrid format (i.e., online & in person) to discuss resilience and wellbeing (Figure 1). At the beginning, we recruit mentors who are students at UW Bothell and mentees who are students at Newport HS in Bellevue. Any students at UW Bothell and Newport HS can join this program as long as they can read and understand English. We aim to recruit 10 mentors and 10 mentees per quarter and repeat it for three quarters. If mentors/mentees must be selected due to a high demand, a preference will be given to BIPOC and/or other marginalized community members.
After we recruit college students, we train them to become effective mentors who value resilience and compassion. We follow The Resilience Workbook for Teens 11 that introduces a variety of activities (e.g. mindfulness) to help individuals gain confidence, manage stress, and cultivate a growth mindset. Participants receive a copy of the workbook and supplies (e.g. pen). Mentors are compensated for the gas mileage.
PI is a PhD-prepared professor at UW Bothell who is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. He is also a recipient of the 2020 – 2021 Resilience & Compassion Seed Grant for his project titled, Resilience through Virtual Mindfulness. Co-PI is a student majoring in Health Studies at UW Bothell and is a past participant of Resilience through Virtual Mindfulness. We have reached out to City of Bellevue Council Members and a nurse who serves for Bellevue residents. They provided their support letters for this project and are willing to work with us. We all are community members who belong to the ethnic minority.
The purpose of this project is to promote resilience and wellbeing by outreaching college and high school students through a mentorship program and establishing meaningful connections between UW Bothell and Newport HS in Bellevue.
Sustainable Development
The United Nations provides 17 Sustainable Development Goals as the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. Our project directly addresses the Goal #3: Good Health and Well-Being by discussing resilience and wellbeing and indirectly impacts the Goal #4: Quality Education. If students are struggling with mental health, they cannot learn well in school. We discuss mental health and promote healthy coping skills. We also introduce study strategies to protect their attention and wellbeing, which leads to an academic success. If mentees want to become college students, mentors can provide additional guidance and resources as needed.
Kosuke Niitsu
Project lead
- kniitsu@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Staff
- Affiliated groups
- School of Nursing & Health Studies / UW Bothell
Christina Lai
Team member
- laic2000@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student
- Years
- 2 year(s) remaining at UW
- Affiliated groups
- School of Nursing & Health Studies / UW Bothell
Janice Zahn
Supporter
- jzahn@bellevuewa.gov
- Affiliation and department
- Councilmember, City of Bellevue
- Stakeholder approval form
Vicky Lai
Supporter
- vickyqlai@gmail.com
- Affiliation and department
- Nurse
- Stakeholder approval form
Request amount and budget
Measure the impacts
At the beginning, mentors and mentees fill out a pre-survey including demographics and Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA). RSA is a self-report instrument containing 33 items on a 5-point Likert scale for evaluating five protective factors of resilience: (1) personal strength, (2) social competence, (3) structured style, (4) family cohesion, and (5) social resources. It demonstrates adequate reliability and validity.
At the end, participants fill out a post-survey including program feedback and RSA. We will analyze the quantitative data from RSA to see if the scores change as a result of the program as well as the qualitative data from the feedback to identify themes emerged for strengths and areas for improvement of this program.