Initial Evaluation of a Brief, Transdiagnostic Intervention for Youth in School Mental Health Care

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the Brief Digital Intervention Program, developed in response to pandemic-era disruptions in school mental health care and the need for flexible and scalable interventions with integrated measurement for students with mild-to-moderate difficulties. The program comprises four brief, digital interventions that teach transdiagnostic, evidence-based skills (relaxation, cognitive restructuring, problem solving, and practicing the opposite of unhelpful behavior), and includes an embedded progress monitoring tool for routinely measuring students' internalizing and externalizing difficulties and "top problems" session-by-session. Study goals were to: 1) examine the acceptability of the intervention; 2) describe barriers and facilitators to its use; and 3) examine pre-post changes in student-reported difficulties. METHOD: = 13.41 years; 63.3% cisgender girls, 27.1% cisgender boys, 9.5% another gender) presenting for mild to moderate mental health concerns from 2021-2024. RESULTS: < .001 large effect, from pre- to post-intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide preliminary support for the acceptability and potential benefits of the Brief Digital Intervention Program for school mental health care. Next steps include evaluation using a controlled, randomized design and testing sustainability.