Effects of exposure to Active Minds' Send Silence Packing exhibit on college students' mental health help-seeking intentions.

Objective

This study examined effects of exposure to a campus mental health promotion exhibit (Send Silence Packing®; SSP) on changes in college students' help-seeking intentions.

Participants

College students (n = 576) from six campuses completed online surveys (baseline, 1-month, 6-month follow-up) assessing exposure to their campus' SSP exhibit (fall, 2022) and mental health help-seeking intentions, psychological distress, and service utilization.

Methods

Fixed effects regression models examined associations between exposure to SSP (any vs. no) and changes in help-seeking intentions.

Results

Relative to baseline, SSP exposure was associated with increases in intentions to seek help from informal sources (friend; family) at 1-month (B = 0.22, SE = 0.08, p = 0.006) and 6-month follow-up (B = 0.20, SE = 0.08, p = 0.01) but not from a mental health professional.

Conclusions

Peer-informed campus mental health promotion exhibits may increase students' intentions to leverage informal sources of support when experiencing a mental health challenge.