Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42334438›Full record

ArticlePublic health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974)2026

Mental Health Screening Before and After the 2020 COVID-19 Closures of US College Campuses: A Cross-Sectional Comparison Using Natural Language Processing.

James Aluri, Susanna Lewis, Ashley M Witmer, Carlos Aguirre, Zoena Howland, Lida King, Susan Han, Mark Dredze, Holly C Wilcox

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

James AluriDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0635-5393
Susanna LewisMental Health Services, Student Health and Wellbeing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Ashley M WitmerDepartment of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0009-0006-7558-9907
Carlos AguirreDepartment of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Zoena HowlandDepartment of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Lida KingKrieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Susan HanMental Health Services, Student Health and Wellbeing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Mark DredzeDepartment of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Holly C WilcoxDepartment of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2624-0654

Funding

PSYCHIATRIC EPIDEMIOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAMT32MH014592 · NIMH · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI HEATHER E VOLK, Peter P. Zandi · 1985 to 2026
$8.5M
NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH014592
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesMental health screening platforms can be used to identify students in mental distress and can connect students to mental health services during disruptive events such as campus closures. We examined college students' utilization of a mental health screening platform in the year before and after COVID-19-related campus closures.

methodsWe analyzed 12 239 students across 31 US institutions who used the Interactive Screening Platform (ISP) in the 1 year before and after the COVID-19-related campus closure on March 15, 2020. We analyzed 3 outcomes: the monthly number of participants at each college, the proportion of participants who entered a dialogue with a mental health counselor, and the proportion of participants who sought a referral through the platform. To determine whether students sought a referral to mental health services, we used natural language processing methods to analyze messages between students and counselors. We used 2-sample

resultsWe found no significant differences in the mean number of participants before and after March 15, 2020 (14.4 vs 16.0 participants per month, respectively), the proportion of participants who participated in a dialogue with a counselor (22.9% [1327 of 5806] vs 23.3% [1501 of 6433]), or the proportion of participants who sought a referral (11.2% [649 of 5806] vs 10.9% [698 of 6433]).

conclusionsStudent use of the ISP was sustained after the COVID-19-related campus closures, suggesting that the ISP can continue to engage with students during disruptions to campus life. The ISP is a tool that campus leaders can consider using during future disruptive events.

Indexed as

college student mental healthCOVID-19 pandemicmental health screeningnatural language processing

Identifiers

PMID42334438
PMCPMC13290741

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.