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Appendix:
Supporting Document Describing Measures and Procedure
Self-report Measures: The first three questionnaires will be completed online, prior to meeting with the counselor. Student participants will be directed to the Program’s website providing a description of the visit(s) and instructions for completing the self-report questionnaires.
1) Brief COPE (Carver, 1997:Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989)
This is an 8-item multidimensional inventory of coping strategies designed to assess the different ways that people respond to stress. Subscales measure conceptually distinct aspects of problem-focused coping (e.g., planning, active coping) and emotional focused coping (e.g., denial, seeking of emotional support).
2) Outcome Questionnaire 45.2 (OQ-45.2; Lambert, Gregersen, & Burlingame, 2005);
The Outcome Questionnaire 45.2 (OQ-45.2) is 45-item self-report instrument designed as a baseline measure and ongoing screening tool to help psychological professionals determine and track treatment progress, including base line assessment. The measure assesses three different areas of functioning: Symptom Distress (SD, such as depression and anxiety), Interpersonal Relations (IR), and Social Role (SR, including role as a college student). The total score is a comprehensive indication of overall mental health.
While estimates of reliability and validity have been in the adequate to good range, the measure has been normed primarily on undergraduate students of European American background (Hanson & Merker, 2005; Pfeiffer, 2005). Thus, one of the goals of the Behavioral Health Check-Up Program is to establish norms on college student participants from other racial and ethnic groups (Gregersen, Nebeker, Seely, & Lambert, 2005).
3) Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS; Tennant, Hiller, Fishwick, et al, 2007).
The WEMWBS is a 14-item self-report measure of emotional well-being developed by an expert panel drawing on current academic literature, qualitative research with focus groups, and psychometric testing of an existing scale. It was validated on a student and representative population sample.
Face-to-face Interview: The counselor will develop a genogram and time-line of significant events with the student participant (see description, below), and will provide feedback from the self-report questionnaires, completed online, prior to the face-to-face interview. Additional interventions, such as psychotherapy, will be discussed in the interview if relevant.
Genogram (Bowen, 1978)
The standard genogram was developed in the early 1980s by a committee of leading family physicians, to be used to record and track family medical history efficiently and reliably. The genogram is commonly attributed to Bowen’s early work (1978) and has been adapted by generations of family therapists (e.g., Wachel, 1985).
Genograms are schematic diagrams listing an individual’s family members and their relationships. They are useful in identifying emotional boundaries, conflicts, openness, current and potential relationships in one’s family, and emotional process passed down through generations. The genogram can also be used to chart the uniqueness of families, such as the cultural strengths and vulnerabilities of minority families. For example, African-American families often include blood and non-blood members, informally adopted children, and varied support arrangements (Boyd-Franklin 1989; Hardy & Laszloffy, 1995). Asian and other immigrant families may live in multigenerational households in which the opinions of senior members are revered and respected in ways unfamiliar to western family practice (Tseng & Hsu 1991).
Demographic information (e.g., student’s age, race, ethnicity) will be incorporated into the genogram, as well as an assessment of significant life events and trauma on a time line (e.g., “What are the three most traumatic things that have happened to you?”).Increasingly, research indicates that traumatic experience may be at the root of a wide range of problems, from physical symptoms (such as headaches, allergies, pains) to emotional symptoms (depression, anxiety, panic attacks, etc.) to self-destructive behaviors (substance use, self-injury, acting out, verbal/emotional outbursts, suicidal thoughts or attempts, etc.).
Program Evaluation:
Behavioral Health Check-Up Program Evaluation Questionnaire: The following questions will be completed at the end of the Program assessment as a way to evaluate the specific measures and procedures used.
Please circle the response level that best describes your experience in the Behavioral Health Check-Up Program in the following questions. Your written responses to the open-ended questions will be helpful in evaluating our program and improving it in the future, so please be as detailed as possible.
- Overall, how helpful did you find the assessment questionnaire feedback to be?
12 3 4 5
not at allsomewhatmoderately very extremely
helpfulhelpfulhelpfulhelpfulhelpful
- Please explain which feedback information was helpful to you. If feedback was not helpful, or if could be improved, please describe how you think it could be improved. The more specific and detailed you can be, the better.
- How clear was the counselor in explaining the Program to you?
12 3 4 5
not at allsomewhatmoderately very extremely
clearclearclearclearclear
- How clear was the counselor in explaining the results of your assessment questionnaires to you?
12 3 4 5
not at allsomewhatmoderately very extremely
clearclearclearclearclear
- Did you find the genogram to be useful (e.g., understanding something about your family)?
12 3 4 5
not at allsomewhatmoderately very extremely
usefulusefulusefulusefuluseful
- Did you learn anything about yourself as a result of meeting with the counselor?
Yes ____
No ____
Not Sure ____
Will have to think about it ____
If yes, please describe what you learned:
- Would you consider seeking behavioral health services (e.g., counseling or psychotherapy) after meeting with the counselor today?
Yes ____
No ____
Not Sure ____
Will have to think about it ____
8. Please describe any changes you would make to the Behavioral Health Check-Up Program:
References
Bowen, M. (1978). Family therapy in clinical practice. New York, NY: Aronson.
Boyd-Franklin, N. (1989). Black families in therapy: A multisystems approach. New York: Guilford Press.
Carver, C. S. (1997). You want to measure coping but your protocol’s too long: Consider the Brief COPE. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4, 92-100.
Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing Coping Strategies: A
Theoretically Based Approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(2),
267–283.
Gregersen, A. T., Nebeker, R. S., Seely, K. I., & Lambert, M. J. (2005). Social validation of the outcome questionnaire: An assessment of Asian and Pacific Islander college students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 33(4), 194-206.
Hanson, W. E., & Merker, B. M. (2005). Review of the OQ-45.2 (Outcome Questionnaire). In R. A. Spies & B.S. Plake (Eds.), The sixteenth mental measurements yearbook. Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.
Hardy, K.V., & Laszloffy, T.A. (1995). The cultural genogram: Key to training culturally competent family therapists. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 21, 227-337.
Lambert, M. J., Gregersen, A. T., & Burlingame, G. M. (2004). The outcome questionnaire. In M. E. Maruish (Ed.), The use of psychological testing for treatment planning and outcome assessment (pp. 191-234). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Pfeiffer, S. I. (2005). Review of the OQ-45.2 (Outcome Questionnaire). In R. A. Spies & B.S. Plake (Eds.), The sixteenth mental measurements yearbook. Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.
Tennant, R., Hiller, L., Fishwick, R., Platt, S., Joseph, S., Weich, S., et al. (2007). The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): Development and UK validation. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 5(1), 63-75.
Tseng, W-S., and Hsu, J. (1991). Culture and family: Problems and therapy. New York: Haworth Press.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (2011). High blood pressure screening: Adults.
Wachtel, E.F. (1982). The family psyche over three generations: The genogram revisited. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 8, 335-343.