Effectiveness of a Transdiagnostic Mobile App Intervention for Mental Health Concerns in University Students: Randomized Controlled Trial

University students often present with mental health concerns that impact a student's ability to function academically, socialize, and are a cause of substantial suffering for students in terms of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. Despite a large percentage of students presenting with high levels of depression and anxiety symptoms many of these students have not received treatment. This may be due to several reasons such as not meeting a diagnostic criteria required to access services, accessibility issues, high cost of services, and a lack of availability. However, treatment trials aimed at treating broad spectrum mental health concerns that these students present with are rare. Transdiagnostic psychotherapy is one potential treatment for these broad mental health concerns as it can address several mental health issues within one treatment. Utilizing the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in an online group therapy in conjunction with a mobile app affords the opportunity to treat a broad spectrum of mental health issues in these young people. This treatment also allows these students to connect with other students during this period of increasing isolation from the comfort of their homes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, eliminating accessibility/availability issues. In addition, there is also a lack of information regarding mental health outcomes and treatment utilization among this highly vulnerable group of students, which may inform health policy and service delivery. The proposed study will address gaps in knowledge and gaps between evidence and practice to improve overall quality of and access to care for university students with mental health concerns. The work will be broadly generalizable and has the capacity to improve health system functioning and population health.