Efficacy of contact intervention videos on college students’ intentions toward mental health help-seeking

Objective Untreated mental health (MH) concerns have significant implications for college students. This study examined the efficacy of a video contact intervention targeting students’ intentions to seek counseling. Participants: One-hundred and sixty-three college students (M ^age = 21.05, SD = 2.20) from a Mid-Atlantic university participated. The sample was predominantly female (74%). Method: Students were randomly assigned to view a student-targeted contact video (ie, clips from college students who share their mental health experiences), a MH comparison contact video, or a non-MH comparison video. Intentions to seek counseling and psychological distress were measured pretest and post-test. Results: Intentions to seek counseling significantly increased from pretest to post-test in the student-targeted contact video condition (F[1, 156] = 22.75, p <.001, partial η ² =.13), but not in the comparison conditions. Further, this effect was only observed among participants who reported preexisting psychological distress (F[1, 153] = 28.00, p <.001, partial η ² =.16). Conclusions: This study provides initial support for the utility of a student-targeted contact intervention video for increasing help-seeking intentions among those reporting current psychological distress.