The Professional Counselor | Volume 13, Issue 3 226 early college high school program in the Southeastern United States. This school is the only public, accelerated pre-collegiate program with all of its students working toward a high school diploma and a cost-free bachelor’s degree simultaneously. By grade 10, students take a minimum of 12 college course credits with the general undergraduate population at a large Southeastern public university. Admission into the program is highly selective, with an 18% acceptance rate. As a result, students enrolled in the program are uniquely advanced, with exceedingly high academic achievement and initiative. As of August 2021, the student body (668 students) demographic breakdown included 35% White nonHispanic, 27% Hispanic, 17% Asian or Pacific Islander, 13% Black non-Hispanic, and 7% Multiracial students. Across the student body, 58% identified as female and 42% identified as male. Participants were selected from the sample population through the use of universal complete mental health screeners. Students with parental consent were instructed, as a part of their school’s comprehensive counseling program, to complete the mental health screeners in the third week of the school semester. One group of students participated in the fall 2021 semester and another group participated in the spring 2022 semester. The administered instruments were completed via computerbased administration and took approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete. The school counseling team then sorted the students into four distinct mental health groups based on negative affectivity scores, assessed by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21), and social–emotional well-being scores, assessed by the Social Emotional Health Survey-Secondary (SEHS-S). T-scores determined the criteria for high versus low scores. Table 1 includes the breakdown of the results. Table 1 Groups Yielded From a Dual-Factor Model of Mental Health Semester Negative Affectivity Low SEWB Average to High SEWB Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Low II. Vulnerable 91 51 I. Complete Mental Health 336 197 Fall 2021 Spring 2022 High IV. Troubled 14 13 III. Symptomatic but Content 92 48 Note. SEWB = social–emotional well-being. In the fall 2021 semester, 192 (36%) out of 533 students were categorized into the high-needs groups (symptomatic, vulnerable, troubled) and identified as needing supplemental intervention. In the spring 2022 semester, 287 students completed the screener, and 90 students (31%) were identified as needing supplemental intervention. After reviewing the results, the researchers prioritized students in the high-need groups with the first opportunity to participate in the study. Students identified in the complete mental health group and considered to have optimal wellness were not prioritized for the study; however, they were still eligible to participate. The CBT-P program and study procedures were described in the informed consent letter to parents and students. Refer to Table 2 for the demographic breakdown for the participants (N = 46) in both the treatment (n = 23) and comparison (n = 23) groups.
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