mHealth application called CBCT Sessions to Treat and Reduce Elevated Stress among Students (C-STRESS). - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Psychological distress among college students is increasing and more than 50% of U.S. college students
report significant symptoms of depression, anxiety or stress.1 Many of these students do not receive
professional help due to the long waiting time and lack of resources for mental health services at universities.
As a result, they may experience poor performance in college, drop out of college, or even die of suicide. It is
thus, crucial to provide new interventions that are aligned with the needs of college students. C-STRESS
addresses the mental health needs of college students with an innovative mobile application to deliver
Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT®), a mind-training intervention that builds skills of attention,
mindfulness, and traditional cognitive behavioral techniques, actualized through meditation, to cultivate
compassion for self and others. The ultimate goal of C-STRESS is to revolutionize the delivery of CBCT and
strengthen college students’ cognitive resilience to stress and improve mental health outcomes. C-STRESS, a
potential digital treatment intervention for depressive symptoms, incorporates 3 key innovative components: 1.
Micro-learning content, 2. Audiovisual library, and 3. Virtual drop-ins, allowing college students with on-demand
access to the structured, research-based CBCT program, CBCT meditation recordings, and a virtual room to
interact with fellow CBCT practitioners and a CBCT instructor. We hypothesize that depressed college
students who receive C-STRESS will have significant decreases in depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress
at 10 and 16 weeks.
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