Speaker
Description
Authors:Emina Mehanović (Department of Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition, University of Piemonte Orientale, Vercelli, Italy), Marco Martorana (Department of Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition, University of Piemonte Orientale, Vercelli, Italy), Erica Viola (Department of Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition, University of Piemonte Orientale, Vercelli, Italy), Alessandro Comi (Department of Translational Medicine, University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy), Patrizia Zeppegno (Department of Translational Medicine, University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy), Debora Marangon (SC Psichiatria, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Maggiore della Carità, Novara, Italy), Carla Gramaglia (Department of Translational Medicine, University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy), Fabrizio Faggiano (Department of Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition, University of Piemonte Orientale, Vercelli, Italy), Federica Vigna-Taglianti (Department of Translational Medicine, University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy), the “Health Mode On” Investigators
Background: Systematic reviews reported a high prevalence of psychological distress among university students. As a response to this concerning scenario, the Italian Ministry of University and Research funded the multicentric project "Health Mode On" (HMO) involving 10 academic institutions and aimed to map psychological distress, coordinate counselling services and set up health promotion interventions including music and sport activities. Within this project, the University of Piemonte Orientale organized activities to: (1) map psychological distress among university students; (2) strengthen the university’s psychological counselling service to provide adequate support for students experiencing emotional fragility and psychological distress; (3) adopt and pilot the sport-based intervention “Line Up Live Up” (LULU) for preventing and reducing substance use and risk behaviours.
Method: A baseline survey will be launched between May and August 2025, and repeated at one year follow-up. Protocol and tools used in the study are under evaluation of Ethical Committee. All students will receive an anonymous, self-administered online questionnaire investigating a large set of variables, including risk behaviours, psychological distress and lifestyles. Students accessing counselling intervention will complete a questionnaire on academic functioning during the initial interview, and at two-month follow-up after the last counselling session. The sport-based prevention program LULU will be adopted and piloted, training coaches of University Sport Centres, and implementing the program in the university setting.
Results: The study expects to provide a comprehensive overview of mental health issues among university students and support targeted well-being initiatives, including sport-based prevention interventions and optimized university counselling services.
Conclusions: This study will generate epidemiological data useful to identify mental health needs, design intervention strategies and improve counselling services in the effort of preventing and reducing psychological distress among university students.
| Conflict of interest | The authors declare they have no conflicts of interests. |
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