Description

The mental health crisis among college students has intensified in recent years, with rising rates of anxiety, depression, and stress. Despite increased institutional efforts, existing mental health services often remain inaccessible or insufficient. The present study proposes and evaluates the Fundamental Adaptive Skills Training (FAST), a novel, single-session intervention designed to promote mental health resilience in college students. FAST will be developed to target empirically supported mechanisms-sleep and physical activity, anxiety sensitivity, loneliness, and social isolation-each linked to a broad range of emotional disorders. Delivered in a digital, group-based format by trained undergraduate peer facilitators, FAST will be scalable, cost-effective, and engaging. This randomized controlled trial will assess the intervention's acceptability and efficacy in improving targeted mechanisms and reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress over a four-week follow-up period. 100 participants identified as at-risk based on elevated negative affectivity will be randomly assigned to FAST or an active control condition involving mindfulness and relaxation training (RMT). Primary outcomes include improvements in sleep quality, physical activity, anxiety sensitivity, loneliness, and social isolation from baseline through week two and week four follow-up. Similarly, clinical outcomes will include improvements in anxiety, depression, and stress levels as indicators of broader emotional resilience. Findings will advance the science of developing and implementing accessible, evidence-based mental health interventions and may contribute to a novel, scalable solution for addressing mental health issues in higher education settings.