The prevalence of mental health conditions and effectiveness of psychological interventions among university students in Italy: A systematic literature review

IF 4.2 2区医学 Q1 PSYCHIATRY

Psychiatry Research Pub Date : 2024-09-22 DOI:10.1016/j.psychres.2024.116208

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The aim of this review was to synthesize extant literature concerning the prevalence of mental health problems among Italian university students seeking psychological help in university counseling services (UCS) and the effectiveness of these interventions.

A systematic search was conducted on main scientific databases following the PRISMA guidelines. Using the PICO method, the study included research on college students seeking psychological help through UCS (P), focusing on psychological interventions delivered by UCS (I), examining the prevalence of psychological problems and/or the effect of UCS intervention on symptoms of mental health issues as (primary or secondary) outcome (O). Class comparisons (C) did not apply to this study. Studies excluded consisted of non-peer-reviewed journal articles, qualitative studies, or publications that reported only descriptive or not fully relevant information. The systematic search was conducted on the PsycInfo, PsycArticles, PsycCRITIQUES, PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases up to December 17, 2023. The data was organized in a narrative synthesis. Finally, the review was registered on OSF (osf.io/t2y9q). Study quality was assessed using a modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.

Thirty-six studies were found to meet the inclusion criteria for a total of 7,432 participants (5,390 female, 6,625 accessing UCS). Most studies (n = 21) had a pre-post intervention design, followed by cross-sectional (n = 12) and case-control (n = 3) designs. Data from the period between 1983 and 2022 were collected (n = 7 studies focused specifically on the COVID-19 pandemic period), primarily using self-report measures. Students attending UCS exhibited significant psychological distress (63.2–92.7 %), various psychopathological symptoms, and poor psychological functioning, including depressive symptoms (9–30 % up to 48.9 %) and anxiety symptoms (11.2–36 %). Studies (n = 21) testing the effectiveness of counseling intervention showed that treatment was helpful in improving students’ mental health, regardless of the approach employed.

Limitations in the examined studies’ design (e.g., heterogeneity in studies outcomes and measures, small sample size, self-reported data, low methodological quality) should be addressed in future research to obtain a more comprehensive picture on the topic under investigation.

The high levels of psychological problems and psychopathological symptoms found in students attending UCS support the need of mental-health promotion activities. Counseling interventions seems to be an effective first-line service for university students experiencing psychological problems.

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意大利大学生心理健康问题的普遍性和心理干预的有效性：系统文献综述

本综述旨在对有关意大利大学生向大学咨询服务机构（UCS）寻求心理帮助时心理健康问题的发生率以及这些干预措施的有效性的现有文献进行综述。研究采用 PICO 方法，纳入了通过大学咨询服务寻求心理帮助的大学生研究（P），重点关注大学咨询服务提供的心理干预（I），研究心理问题的普遍性和/或大学咨询服务干预对心理健康问题症状的影响（主要或次要）结果（O）。类别比较（C）不适用于本研究。排除的研究包括未经同行评审的期刊文章、定性研究或仅报告描述性信息或不完全相关信息的出版物。系统检索在 PsycInfo、PsycArticles、PsycCRITIQUES、PubMed、Web of Science 和 Scopus 数据库中进行，截止日期为 2023 年 12 月 17 日。对数据进行了叙述性综合整理。最后，该综述在 OSF（osf.io/t2y9q）上进行了注册。研究质量采用修改后的纽卡斯尔-渥太华量表（Newcastle-Ottawa Scale）进行评估。有 36 项研究符合纳入标准，共有 7432 名参与者（5390 名女性，6625 名访问了 UCS）。大多数研究（21 项）采用干预前设计，其次是横断面设计（12 项）和病例对照设计（3 项）。研究收集了1983年至2022年期间的数据（7项研究专门针对COVID-19大流行期间），主要采用自我报告测量法。参加 UCS 的学生表现出明显的心理困扰（63.2-92.7%）、各种精神病理症状和不良的心理功能，包括抑郁症状（9-30%，最高达 48.9%）和焦虑症状（11.2-36%）。测试心理咨询干预效果的研究（n = 21）显示，无论采用哪种方法，治疗都有助于改善学生的心理健康。在未来的研究中，应解决所考察研究设计中的局限性（如研究结果和测量方法的异质性、样本量小、自我报告数据、方法学质量低），以便更全面地了解所调查的主题。心理咨询干预似乎是解决大学生心理问题的有效一线服务。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Psychiatry Research 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

17.40

自引率

1.80%

发文量

527

审稿时长

57 days

期刊介绍： Psychiatry Research offers swift publication of comprehensive research reports and reviews within the field of psychiatry. The scope of the journal encompasses: Biochemical, physiological, neuroanatomic, genetic, neurocognitive, and psychosocial determinants of psychiatric disorders. Diagnostic assessments of psychiatric disorders. Evaluations that pursue hypotheses about the cause or causes of psychiatric diseases. Evaluations of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic psychiatric treatments. Basic neuroscience studies related to animal or neurochemical models for psychiatric disorders. Methodological advances, such as instrumentation, clinical scales, and assays directly applicable to psychiatric research.