Peer Academic Coaching Support for College Students (PASS)

PIs:  Maryann Davis, PhD, Amanda Costa, BS
Investigators: Kathryn Sabella, MA, Marsha Ellison, PhD (UMass Chan), Dorothy Hutchinson, PhD (Boston University), & Mary Huber, PhD (Wright University)

Description: 
The goal of this project is to produce an empirically supported peer coach intervention, called Peer Academic Supports for Success (PASS), to help new college students with serious mental health conditions (SMHC) succeed academically. PASS will be developed in partnership with young adults with lived experience. PASS is intended to be a combination of two previous approaches: an existing Peer Coach approach designed for college freshmen with autism spectrum disorders and a non-peer Coaching approach that has been utilized with students with SMHC. Qualitative data gathered from students with SMHC and a review of relevant literature will be used to inform a small pilot open trial of the PASS model. Following this pilot open trial, intervention, and research protocols will be revised as appropriate and then the finalized pilot randomized controlled trial will be implemented to produce feasibility findings to inform future intervention efficacy (stage 3) research.