Caring Universities

Caring Universities, affiliated with the World Mental Health International College Student Initiative (WMH-ICS), aims to improve college students’ mental health through screenings and online interventions offered via the MoodLift platform.

The Caring Universities (CU) project, affiliated with the World Mental Health International College Student (WMH-ICS) Initiative, is dedicated to supporting college students’ mental health by investigating student wellbeing and offering free, evidence-based online interventions through the Mood Lift platform, with a focus on providing accessible, early support during the university years. The research conducted within CU has three main objectives.

Screening: to assess the mental health of all students at participating universities through an annual survey. This research focuses on the prevalence of mental health and psychosocial concerns among college students.
MoodLift : to implement and evaluate evidence-based, guided internet self-help programmes designed to improve students’ coping skills and/or decrease their mental health complaints. Currently, the MoodLift platform offers 11 self-help programmes. As part of the research, we assess the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of these interventions.
Research infrastructure: To provide a shared infrastructure for consortium members, enabling the alignment and coordination of multiple related research projects.

TEAM

Dr. Sascha Y. Struijs, Project Leader and Senior Researcher for Caring Universities
Erika van Es, Project Manager and Coach Coordinator for Caring Universities
Leonore M. de Wit, Associate Professor and Senior Researcher for Caring Universities
Annemieke van Straten, Full Professor and PhD Supervisor for Caring Universities
Sevin Ozmen, Platform Coordinator, UX Expert and PhD Candidate for Caring Universities
Arpana Amarnath, Data Management and PhD Candidate for Caring Universities
Nursima Nas, PhD Candidate

KNOP Department

Clinical, Neuro- & Developmental Psychology

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Clinical Psychology Section

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Caring Universities offers free support for students dealing with issues like procrastination, perfectionism, and low self-esteem. Each student is paired with an e-coach trained in the program, providing guidance and a listening ear. Research shows improvement after completing the program. The consortium works to raise awareness, ensuring more students benefit from this accessible help.

Publications

Pape, L. et al. (in press). Open pilot study of a guided digital self-help intervention targeting sleep and the biological clock in university students using a pre-test post-test design. Scientific Reports.
Boschloo, L., Wijnands, J., Garnefski, N., Kraaij, V., Hurks, P., Remmerswaal, D., Wiers, R. W., Struijs, S., & Salemink, E. (2025). Symptom heterogeneity in students with mild to severe depression symptomatology and their differential symptom-specific changes during an internet-based, guided cognitive behavioural therapy intervention. Internet Interventions, 100834. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2025.100834
Mortier, P., Yang, X., Altwaijri, Y. A., Holdcraft, J. A., Lee, S., Sampson, N. A., Albor, Y., Alhadi, A. N., Alonso, J., Al-Saud, N. K., Andersson, C., Atwoli, L., Auerbach, R. P., Muaka, C. A., Báez-Mansur, P. M., Ballester, L., Bantjes, J., Baumeister, H., Bendtsen, M., . . . Kessler, R. C. (2025). The associations of childhood adversities and mental disorders with suicidal thoughts and behaviors – Results from the World Mental Health International College Student Initiative. Psychiatry Research, 116555. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2025.116555
Mason, A., Rapsey, C., Sampson, N., Lee, S., Albor, Y., Al-Hadi, A. N., Alonso, J., Al-Saud, N., Altwaijri, Y., Andersson, C., Atwoli, L., Auerbach, R. P., Ayuya, C., Báez-Mansur, P. M., Ballester, L., Bantjes, J., Baumeister, H., Bendtsen, M., Benjet, C., … van der Heijde, C. (2025). Prevalence, age-of-onset, and course of mental disorders among 72,288 first-year university students from 18 countries in the World Mental Health International College Student (WMH-ICS) initiative. Journal of psychiatric research, 183, 225-236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.02.016
Rentería, R., Andersson, C., Bendtsen, M., Mortier, P., Auerbach, R. P., Bantjes, J., Baumeister, H., Berman, A. H., Bootsma, E., Bruffaerts, R., Cohut, I. F., Crockett, M. A., Cuijpers, P., David, O. A., Ebert, D. D., Gutierrez-García, R. A., Hasking, P. A., Hunt, X., Hurks, P., . . . Voorspoels, W. (2025). Mental disorders and sexual orientation in college students across 13 countries of differing levels of LGBTQ+ acceptance. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 186, 331–340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.04.021
Pape, L. M., Van Straten, A., Struijs, S. Y., Spinhoven, P., & Antypa, N. (2024). Effectiveness of a guided digital self-help intervention to improve sleep and the biological clock in university students–Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Internet Interventions, 37, 100763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2024.100763
Amanvermez, Y., Karyotaki, E., Cuijpers, P., Ciharova, M., Donker, M., Hurks, P., Salemink, E., Spinhoven, P., Struijs, S., & de Wit, L. M. (2023). A guided, internet-based stress management intervention for university students with high levels of stress: Feasibility and acceptability study. JMIR Formative Research, 7(1), Article e45725. https://doi.org/10.2196/45725
Amarnath, A., Ozmen, S., Struijs, S. Y., de Wit, L., & Cuijpers, P. (2023). Effectiveness of a guided internet-based intervention for procrastination among university students – A randomized controlled trial study protocol. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 172, 181–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2023.100612
Ozmen, S., Amarnath, A., Struijs, S., de Wit, L., & Cuijpers, P. (2023). A guided web-based intervention targeting procrastination in college students: Protocol for an open trial. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 170, 109–115. https://doi.org/10.2196/44907
Garnefski, N., & Kraaij, V. (2023). Moodpep: Description and evaluation of an online self-help program for young adults with feelings of depression. Journal of Emotion and Psychopathology, 1(1), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.55913/joep.v1i1.10
Karyotaki, E., Klein, A., Ciharova, M., Bolinski, F., Krijnen, L., de Koning, L., de Wit, L., van der Heijde, C., Ebert, D., Riper, H., Batelaan, N., Vonk, P., Auerbach, R., Kessler, R. C., Bruffaerts, R., Struijs, S., Wiers, R., & Cuijpers, P. (2022). Guided internet-based transdiagnostic individually tailored cognitive behavioral therapy for symptoms of depression and/or anxiety in college students: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 148, 256–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2021.104028
Amanvermez, Y., Zhao, R., Cuijpers, P., de Wit, L., Ebert, D., Kessler, R. C., Bruffaerts, R., & Karyotaki, E. (2022). Effects of self-guided stress management interventions in college students: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 301, 123–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2022.100503
Amanvermez, Y., Karyotaki, E., Cuijpers, P., Salemink, E., Spinhoven, P., Struijs, S., & de Wit, L. M. (2021). Feasibility and acceptability of a guided internet-based stress management intervention for university students with high levels of stress: Protocol for an open trial. Internet Interventions, 24, 100700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2021.100369
Cuijpers, P., Miguel, C., Ciharova, M., Aalten, P., Batelaan, N., Salemink, E., Spinhoven, P., Struijs, S., de Wit, L., Gentili, C., Ebert, D., Harrer, M., Bruffaerts, R., Kessler, R. C., & Karyotaki, E. (2021). Prevention and treatment of mental health and psychosocial problems in college students: An umbrella review of meta-analyses. Journal of Affective Disorders, 284, 91–101. https://doi.org/10.1037/cps0000030
Cuijpers, P., Auerbach, R. P., Benjet, C., Bruffaerts, R., Ebert, D., Karyotaki, E., & Kessler, R. C. (2019). The World Health Organization World Mental Health International College Student initiative: An overview. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 28(2), e1761. https://doi-org.vu-nl.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/mpr.1761

Reports

Report 1 – Results of the first wave measured in June 2020
Report 2 – Results of the second wave measured in January 2021
Report 3 – Results of the third wave measured in November 2021
Report 4 – Results of the fourth wave measured in November 2022
Report 5 – Results of the fifth wave measured in November 2023
Report 6 – Results of the sixth wave measured in November 2024

This project is funded by the Caring Universities Consortium, comprising of five Dutch universities in the Netherlands. The project partners are:

secretariaat.KNOP.fgb@vu.nl

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Caring Universities

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