Background: Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors, including suicidal ideation, planning, attempts, and nonsuicidal self-injury, are a significant public health concern among college students. Community college students face elevated mental health risks and persistent barriers to traditional services, particularly those from underserved and ethnoracially minoritized backgrounds, underscoring the need for scalable, accessible digital mental health interventions. Objective: This study conducted a mixed methods evaluation of the initial reactions of college students to a novel technology-enhanced suicide prevention intervention (TE-SPI), with particular focus on feedback regarding a mobile app prototype (BRITE) designed to support coping skill use and mood monitoring, as well as proposed nondemanding caring contact text messages. Methods: A mixed methods approach using the technology acceptance model (TAM) was used to assess the TE-SPI among 20 ethnoracially diverse college students (mean age 22.8, SD 3.9) from a community college (n=10) and a 4-year university (n=10). Participants were shown the BRITE app prototype on a study iPad and asked to provide feedback on its perceived ease of use, usefulness, and relevance to student needs. Quantitative measures assessed initial impressions of satisfaction and #usability, while qualitative analyses examined participants’ reactions to the app prototype and preferences regarding potential caring contact text messages. Results: Participants generally reported favorable initial impressions of the BRITE app prototype, with 90% (18/20) describing it as helpful and 85% (17/20) user-friendly; 90% (18/20) also indicated that they would recommend it to peers in distress. Qualitative feedback supported these findings, highlighting the app’s perceived accessibility, relevance to student life, and potential usefulness during moments of distress. Participants also offered concrete suggestions for app refinements (eg, mood scale customization, gamification, and language options) and for useful caring contact messages they would want to receive. In total, 55% (11/20) of participants said that they would want to receive text messages as part of TE-SPI, while 25% (5/20) reported maybe or possibly wanting to receive messages. Conclusions: Findings offer preliminary insight into how college students perceive the BRITE app prototype and proposed caring contact message, highlighting concrete feedback for app refinement prior to real-world testing. This study provides early user feedback that can inform further development of the TE-SPI model. Future research should examine actual use, acceptability, feasibility, and clinical impact among diverse college students.

Background As adolescents transition to increased independence, they may also begin to encounter financial difficulties, including debt, which may contribute to psychological distress. While financi...

Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process. Job Category: Academic Staff Employment T...

Adolescents in juvenile detention facilities self-harm at rates two to three times those documented in community samples, yet the research literature on this population remains sparse, methodologicall...

Background: Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), hereafter referred to as self-injury, is common among adolescents and is associated with elevated risk for suicid...

This article reviews the nature and prevalence of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suggests how it can be better recognized and treated in the mental health community. Throughout history, NSSI ha...

Nonsuicidal Self-Injury - Etiology, pathophysiology, symptoms, signs, diagnosis & prognosis from the MSD Manuals - Medical Professional Version.

Background: Individuals with early psychosis (EP) have elevated risk for suicide, the leading cause of death in the first five years following diagnosis. Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) significantly ...

Translational Psychiatry - Social exclusion alters attention and autonomic regulation in adolescents with nonsuicidal self-injury

Dr. Nicholas Westers addresses the pervasive but often misunderstood issue of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), explaining how to recognize signs, dispelling myths and spotlighting protocols and interventions…

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Adolescents in juvenile detention facilities self-harm at rates two to three times those documented in community samples, yet the research literature on this population remains sparse, methodologicall...

Adolescents in juvenile detention facilities self-harm at rates two to three times those documented in community samples, yet the research literature on this population remains sparse, methodologicall...

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is common in trauma-exposed adolescents and has been linked to dysregulation of stress-response systems, including the …

Background Adolescents who engage in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) show a high sensitivity to ostracism, and its effects may be amplified by dysregulated stress-system function. However, ecologically grounded experimental studies examining multilevel stress responses in adolescent mental health remain scarce. We used a novel, ecologically valid in-person ostracism paradigm to assess subjective, autonomic, and endocrine responses in adolescents with recent NSSI and to characterize stress trajectories. Methods Fifty adolescents with recent NSSI (mean age = 16.40 years, 76% female) were randomized (1:1) to live social inclusion or exclusion in a face-to-face ball-toss task based on the Cyberball paradigm. Salivary cortisol was sampled at five points from pre-task to 40 min post-task. Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) were recorded at baseline and during the interaction. Subjective stress, tension, and NSSI urges were assessed before and after the task. Perceived exclusion and psychological need threat were also assessed. Results We found clear ostracism effects on perceived exclusion and basic psychological need threat. Cortisol declined across the paradigm in both conditions (inclusion/exclusion), but the decline was flatter after exclusion, indicating attenuated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis downregulation. HR decreased modestly over time across conditions, and HRV diverged by condition: it decreased during exclusion and increased during inclusion. There were no condition-related changes in self-reported stress, tension, or NSSI urges. Conclusions These findings suggest a decoupling between subjective and psychobiological stress systems in adolescents with NSSI in response to ostracism, characterized by rapid parasympathetic withdrawal and a blunted HPA axis downregulation. This pattern may reflect heightened physiological sensitivity to social threat despite limited conscious distress. Trial registration: This study has been registered at the German Clinical Trials Register (ID: DRKS00025905, https://drks.de/search/en/trial/DRKS00025905).