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University Counseling Center

Student Outcomes

Assessment of Student Outcomes

Outcome A Individual Psychotherapy

Provide effective individual psychotherapy services.
Objective 1 Reduce client psychological distress symptoms.

Measure 1

2020 Status
Achieved
Individual psychotherapy outcome results continue to demonstrate a significant positive effect of receiving counseling services on psychological symptoms. For Fall 2019, all CCAPS subscales reflected statistically significant change from pre-intervention to post-intervention. For Winter 2020, academic distress was an exception to this consistent trend and may reflect the changes to both service delivery and academic coursework due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The current report further supports the current method of short-term individual treatment as the main service delivery of the UCC.

2019 Status
Achieved
Individual psychotherapy outcome results continue to demonstrate a significant positive effect of receiving counseling services on psychological symptoms. For Fall 2019, all CCAPS subscales reflected statistically significant change from pre-intervention to post-intervention. For Winter 2020, academic distress was an exception to this consistent trend and may reflect the changes to both service delivery and academic coursework due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The current report further supports the current method of short-term individual treatment as the main service delivery of the UCC.

2018 Status
Achieved
Individual psychotherapy outcome results continue to demonstrate a significant effect of receiving counseling services on psychological symptoms. All CCAPS subscales reflected statistically significant change from pre-intervention to post-intervention. Additional analyses conducted demonstrated that students report higher levels of academic distress at midterms and finals than they do at the beginning of the semester. This further supports intensive outreach efforts such as Thrive Week and Exam Cram that are timed to midterms and finals to address student well-being and academic distress.

2017 Status
Achieved
Individual psychotherapy outcome results demonstrated a significant effect of receiving counseling services on psychological symptoms. Each subscale of the CCAPS reflected statistically significant change from pre-intervention to post-intervention. Future analyses will be conducted to determine the impact of the time of the semester on symptom presentation and reduction.

2016 Status
Achieved
Examined change from first to last counseling session for 1011 clients. The data reflected a significant decrease in overall distress and in symptoms across all subscales, with Depression and Generalized Anxiety showing the largest decreases from intake baseline to final CCAPS administration. The domains with the least reduction of distress were Academic Distress and Eating Concerns. UCC Individual Therapy Student Satisfaction Survey demonstrated that students reported symptom improvement.

Outcome B Peer Educator Outreach

Provide effective peer-to-peer social justice focused educational programs.
Objective 1 Increase participant awareness and understanding of social factors affecting disparities in health and longevity.

Measure 1

2017 Status
Achieved
The Center exceeded our target goal of increasing participant awareness and understanding of social factors affecting disparities in health and longevity.

Outcome C Group services

Provide effective group psychotherapy services.
Objective 1 Increase client levels of positive coping and well being.

Measure 1

2019 Status
Achieved
Evaluation of UCC group services focused on client change in well-being and positive feelings about the self. Results from the 2019-2020 academic year demonstrated that the large majority of clients reported both improved well-being and increased positive feelings about themselves after attending group therapy. This supports the Center’s continued offerings of process-oriented and skills-oriented group counseling services.

2016 Status
Achieved
Evaluation of UCC group services focused on client change in well-being and positive feelings about the self. Results from the 2016-2017 academic year demonstrated that the large majority of clients reported both improved well-being and more positive feelings about themselves as a function of attending group therapy. The Center will continue to offer both individual and group counseling services with emphasis on maintaining the quality of these services.

Outcome D QPR suicide prevention

Provide effective suicide prevention training to the campus community.
Objective 1 Increase knowledge and skills related to suicide prevention.

Measure 1

2020 Status
Achieved
2020-2021 results indicated significant positive outcomes in all of the areas assessed by the QPR pre-post test and program evaluation. Participants reported a statistically significant change in their ability to recognize the warning signs of suicidal ideation and to implement the QPR prevention method. Among participants, 97.5% would recommend the QPR training to others.

2019 Status
Achieved
2019-2020 results indicated significant positive outcomes in all of the areas assessed by the QPR pre-post test and program evaluation. Participants reported significant change in their ability to recognize the warning signs of suicide and to implement the QPR prevention method with all changes reflected statistical significance.

2018 Status
Achieved
The results demonstrated significant positive outcomes in all the areas assessed by the QPR survey, indicating a positive learning experience and change in multiple domains related to suicide prevention. Specifically, participants reported significant change in their ability to recognize the warning signs of suicide and to implement the QPR prevention method. Overall, participants reported that attending QPR training was a positive experience. The average rating for the quality of this program was 1.55 ( with 1 = excellent, 2 = very good, 3 = good, 4 = fair, 5 = poor). Among participants, 97.7% of participants would recommend the QPR training to others.

2017 Status
Achieved
The results demonstrated significant outcomes in all the areas assessed by the QPR survey indicating positive learning experiences and change in multiple domains. Specifically, participants noted significant change in their ability to recognize the warning signs of suicide and to implement the QPR prevention method. Overall, participants reported having a positive experience as a result of being in this training program. The overall average rating for the quality of the program was 1.78 (with 1 = excellent, 2 = very good, 3 = good, 4 = fair, 5 = poor). Among participants 93.6% would recommend the QPR training program to others.

2016 Status
Achieved
Participants noted significant change in their ability to get help for another person and their comfort level to ask about suicide from pre- to post-training. Overall, participants reported having a very good experience as a result of being in this training program. The overall rating for the quality of the program was 1.53 (with 1 = excellent, 2 = very good, 3 = good, 4 = fair, 5 = poor). Among participants 93.8% would recommend the QPR training program to others.

Outcome E Psychoeducational Outreach

Provide effective psychoeducational outreach programming.
Objective 1 Increase awareness and understanding of a range of mental health and well-being topics.

Measure 1

2018 Status
Achieved
Data was collected from 1611 outreach evaluation of UCC/ACES outreach presentations. All outcomes met the threshold for confidence in attaining the learning objectives. The average for all learning outcome objectives was 3.65 which is above the target value. This demonstrates that all outreach learning outcomes are being met and participants are improving their knowledge related to a variety of mental health and well-being related topics.

Outcome F Alcohol prevention education

Provide effective alcohol prevention outreach education.
Objective 1 Increase knowledge about the effects of alcohol use and strategies for harm reduction.

Measure 1

2020 Status
Achieved
Results of the Alcohol Psychoeducational Program Evaluation demonstrated that students increased their awareness of the impact of alcohol use on wellness, safe and responsible use, and critical thinking about alcohol use behaviors.

2016 Status
Achieved
Results of the Alcohol Psychoeducational Program Evaluation demonstrated that students increased their awareness of the impact of alcohol use on wellness, safe and responsible use, and critical thinking about alcohol use behaviors.

Outcome G Alcohol education workshops (AEW)

Provide effective targeted education for students who have violated the GVSU community alcohol policy.
Objective 1 Facilitate critical thinking around personal use of alcohol.

Measure 1

2016 Status
Achieved
Data collected in the 2016-2017 academic year found that 94% of attendees of the Alcohol Education Workshop (AEW) reported examining their alcohol use to some extent. This supports the continued offering of AEW courses as part of the continued of the University Counseling Center on harm reduction and building awareness around alcohol use.

Outcome H US 102 and retention

Examine the potential impact of US 102 (Career Exploration) upon student retention.
Objective 1 Compare US 102 students' GPA, declaration of academic major, and continued enrollment to non-US 102 student sample.

Measure 3

2020 Status
Achieved
Data was collected to compare students enrolled in US 102 with a matched control sample from Fall 2016 through Winter 2021. It was demonstrated that US 102 has a positive impact on GPA and retention rates of students. Students enrolled in US 102 had a greater number of major changes during this period pointing to learning appropriate skills to evaluate and reevaluate their major and career fit. This indicates a significant positive impact of US 102.