Depression Among College Students in the US - Interventions

A couple current interventions at work on college campuses are:

1. Credit limits - while these are applied to the student body as a whole, they are greatly beneficial in decreasing the amount of stress on a student by limiting how much work they can take on per semester. Even though these limits can be surpassed, students are generally strongly advised against such action.
2. On campus counseling - student counseling services like JHU's "A Place to Talk" provide an area for students under emotional duress to seek advice on how to deal with their current issues and how to move forward.  
3. Promotion of cultural and ethnic clubs on campus, providing a sense of familiarity and community in a different environment

A few possible interventions to help lower the incidence of depression on college campuses are:

1. Hosting early year and mid-year assemblies, much like the orientation events, that would educate the student body about depression and various campus resources available to deal with the issue
• Secondary intervention
2. Increase the availability of on-campus recreation areas and activities - there is a strong correlation between physical activity and good mental health.
• Secondary intervention
3. Enforce stricter guidelines for underage alcohol consumption and inebriation by students - dependency on alcohol only worsens depression and the measure would benefit not only those who are suffering from depression but the health of the student body as a whole.
• Tertiary intervention
4. Record the students who are currently prescribed antidepressants according to their mandatory student health forms submitted at the beginning of these school year and create an opt-in counseling program for which said students would be contacted.
• Secondary intervention

There are no primary interventions, as there are no actual means to "prevent" depression in people. One can only treat the onset of the condition and help people through it. 

1 = Poor

2 = Fair

3 = Good

Options Decision Criteria	Intervention 1: Early and Midyear Informational Assemblies	Intervention 2: Increase of On-campus Recreational	Intervention 3: Opt-in Counseling Program
Effectiveness	2	2	3
Feasibility	3	2	1
Sustainability	3	2	1
Cost	3	1	1
Cost effectiveness	3	2	3
Political acceptability	3	3	1
Social will	1	2	1
Potential for unintended risks	3	1	1
Potential for unintended benefits	3	3	2
Total/conclusion	24	18	14

The best/ most feasible intervention is the early and midyear assemblies for educating the student body about on campus ready - they are perhaps the most plausible methods to address the problem as they are the least invasive and least costly. 

The creation of on-campus recreational centers, while being a pro not only for the population of depressed students but the community as a whole, will be quite costly to create and will take a significant amount of time and resources to organize.

The opt-in program is premised on the fact that Hopkins officials will use medical records as a basis to contact depressed students and offer help of some sort. While this may be seen as a solid step to some, it will certainly come off as invasive to others. However, it will be the most direct means of reaching the depressed community specifically.