DIGEST - Volume 10, Issue 1

1 TPC Digest 1 | TPC Digest here is a growing demand for mental health services on college campuses. One way that college counselors are striving to meet this demand is by facilitating gatekeeper training workshops to prepare university community members (e.g., faculty members) to recognize and refer students who are showing warning signs for suicide or other mental health issues to support services. Faculty members are particularly valuable counseling referral agents because they tend to interact with large groups of students on more frequent occasions than college mental health professionals. However, the results of a recent national survey indicated that approximately 63% of faculty members are not making student referrals to the college counseling center. The purpose of this study was to test the utility of the Mental Distress Response Scale (MDRS), a screening tool for assessing responses to encountering a student in mental distress, including but not limited to making a referral to mental health support services, with a sample of faculty members. The MDRS is comprised of two subscales or responses of faculty members to encountering a student in mental distress—Approach/ Encourage and Diminish/Avoid. The Approach/Encourage subscale measures responses to mental distress that are consistent with providing support and encouragement to a student in mental distress (e.g., “suggest that they go to the health center on campus”). The Diminish/Avoid subscale measures adverse or inactive responses to encountering a student in mental distress (e.g., “try to ignore your concern”). Results were promising and indicated that the MDRS is a valid (the test measures what it was designed to measure) and reliable (consistent) screening tool for use with faculty members. The MDRS has potential to enhance college counselors’ outreach and mental health screening efforts. In particular, college counselors can attend new faculty orientations and department meetings to administer the MDRS, establish relationships with faculty, and discuss the benefits of gatekeeper training as well as supporting college student mental health. The results of the MDRS can be used to gain insight into the types of responses that faculty members are likely to have when encountering a student in mental distress. This information can be used to structure the content of gatekeeper training workshops aimed at promoting faculty-to-student referrals to mental health support services. The author also found demographic differences in faculty members’ responses to encountering a student in mental distress. Faculty members who identified as male were more likely to report a diminish/avoid response to encountering a student in mental distress compared to female faculty members. College counselors might consider focusing outreach efforts, including gatekeeper training and mental health awareness workshops, in academic departments that are comprised of high proportions of male faculty members. The author discusses a variety of additional recommendations for how college mental health professionals can use the MDRS to support college student mental health. Michael T. Kalkbrenner, PhD, NCC, is an assistant professor at New Mexico State University. Correspondence can be addressed to Michael Kalkbrenner, 1220 Stewart St., OH202B, NMSU, Las Cruces, NM 88001, mkalk001@nmsu.edu. T Cross-Validation of the Mental Distress Response Scale Michael T. Kalkbrenner Implications for Counselors