Effect of Emotional Distress Monitoring and Intervention in Preventing Non-suicidal Self-injury (NSSI) of College Students

Abstract

Objective: In this study, we monitored and intervened in the emotional status of college students to understand the effect of intervention measures on the prevention and control of non-suicidal self-harm, and to provide a reference for the prevention and control of self-harm in college students. Methods: We conducted a baseline survey of 1832 first-year students across 3 vocational colleges in Chongqing, China in October 2019. In October 2020, we followed-up regarding the nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) occurrences among our original respondents. During the year, students’ emotions were regularly monitored. The students who scored > 10 and had moderate suicidal thoughts were provided counseling to reduce their emotional stress. If the students could not reduce these emotions, their counselors contacted the school psychological center for professional counseling. If the school psychological counseling center diagnosed the students with severe depression, the counselors informed their parents and suggested hospital treatment. Results: The detection rate of NSSI history was 18.52% (320/1728), and the detection rate of the follow-up survey was 8.13% (137/1685); the difference in the detection rate was statistically significant (χ2 = 128.3103, p < .001). Conclusions: Our results show that monitoring and intervening in college students’ emotional states can prevent the occurrence of NSSI behavior.