Grant: Project Grant

Each year, thousands of post-secondary students in Canada experience mental health issues. Many students do not seek timely help because they are unaware of their needs, or find it too challenging to get support. Previously, we developed a web application, called MyHEARTSMAP, for screening of psychological (mood, thoughts) and social wellness (housing, relationships) in children. We have since, modified MyHEARTSMAP into HEARTSMAP-to allow university students to self-check their own wellbeing and get directions to timely support that meets their psychological and social needs, without having to book an in-person appointment. In this study, we will compare how accurately HEARTSMAP-U identifies social and psychological issues compared to a clinician assessment, the current gold-standard. Our study aims to recruit 580 students at the University of British Columbia over three years. We will work closely with university administration and student organizations to ensure our work sensitively and meaningfully involves students, with efforts to ensure diverse engagement (sex, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation). First, students will use HEARTSMAP-U to self-check their own wellbeing, then they will be assessed by a trained clinician. We will compare the results of the assessments to determine the accuracy of the HEARTSMAP-U app. Three months later, we will repeat these procedures to see if HEARTSMAP-U is able to detect changes in wellbeing over time. We will also ask students about their experiences using mental health supports to explore how using HEARTSMAP-U affects accessibility and usability of these resources. We anticipate that HEARTSMAP-U will be as good as the clinician's assessment and facilitate students' access and use of mental health resources. Our UBC and student network partners will help put our findings to practice through implementation of HEARTSMAP-U to empower students to check for psychological and social difficulties and access timely support.