Translation and validation of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS) to Danish

Background and aims: For most students, university life offers thrilling experiences and opportunities. After just moving from home, it is time to form identities, meet exciting new people, experiment, and be stimulated professionally at the university. However, a considerable and increasing proportion of students have difficulty thriving and develop symptoms of mental problems, such as depression and anxiety. These students might have an increased risk of dropping out of their studies, developing psychiatric diagnoses, and not getting a job. During my PhD, I found out that we in Denmark lack a questionnaire tailored to measure students’ life situation with family, friends, and studies, as well as symptoms of distress and more serious mental problems. However, in the USA, such a questionnaire has been developed and validated, the “Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS)”. Therefore, the first aim of this research project is to develop a culturally validated version of the CCAPS for Danish students at universities and university colleges. In a second phase, after validating the CCAPS, the aim is to investigate whether the students’ CCAPS-profiles can predict study dropout and psychiatric diagnosis 5 and 10 years later.
Method: The CCAPS is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 62 or 34 questions (short version). In the first phase, the CCAPS will be sent to 2.000 students from the Danish Student Counseling Service, and 1.000 randomly selected students from universities in Denmark. In the second phase, de-identified data from the CCAPS will be associated with data from Statistics Denmark on study dropout, psychiatric diagnosis, and connection to the labor market five and ten years after completing the CCAPS.
Planned publications and perspectives: This research project will result in three publications: (1) A paper on the psychometric quality of the CCAPS, (2) a paper on norm data of Danish students, and (3) The ability of the CCAPS to predict study drop out, psychiatric diagnosis, and connection to the labor market. The project has the potential to be of essential importance for the preventive and early intervention efforts among students in Denmark at risk of study dropout and developing mental illness.