Senior Theses

Publication Date

12-1-2015

Document Type

Thesis (Open Access)

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Social & Behavioral Sciences

Department

Online and Continuing Education

Faculty Advisor(s)

Scott Vandehey & Tanya Tompkins

Subject Categories

Applied Behavior Analysis | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy | Experimental Analysis of Behavior | Health Services Research | Mental and Social Health | Psychology

Abstract

Public interest in mental health care modernization has steadily gained momentum since ratifying The United States Health Care Affordability Act (U.S. Office of the Legislative Counsel, 2010). Furthermore, with 1 in every 1000 people seeking online support for mental health issues (DeAndrea & Anthony, 2013), research concerning the development of virtual mental health applications is critical to ensure science guides their innovation. To this end, this study explores the feasibility of a mental health intervention that unites the experiential, recovery-oriented, and self-determined values of mental health peer support (Kaufman et al., 2014) with dialectical behavior therapy skills training (DBT-ST) (Linehan, 1993b) (Linehan, 2014a) (Linehan, 2014b) in a massive open online course (MOOC) format to create an adjunct, no-cost, DBT-ST resource for people with emotional difficulties. People stagnating on program waitlists, lacking access to comprehensive DBT, who want to brush up on prior DBT-ST, or who are simply curious and want to learn more about DBT-ST are most likely to benefit from this novel intervention. The pilot DBT-ST MOOC offers a robust user interface (see Appendix A for details), which increases flexibility in time and space and costs little to nothing compared to traditional brick and mortar learning environments (Hu, 2013). The DBT-ST program teaches all four skill sets prescribed in standard DBT: core mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness skills, respectively (see Figure 1) while presenting an introduction to the rapidly growing field of DBT-oriented Internet applications.

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