Assessing College Students' Mental Health Needs: A Process Example Using Nominal Groups And A Survey Questionnaire

An assessment of college students' mental health needs was con­ducted. The study was designed to provide a process example of a needs assessment whose results could be translated into counseling and psychological service programs. Development of the needs assess­ment process required consideration of several theoretical issues: (a) how to conceptualize counseling need, (b) how to measure specific counseling needs, and (c) how to use the resultant data for counsel­ing service program decision making. Procedures were designed to require a minimum of administrative time and money, provide a random and representative sample, and yield an acceptable survey response rate.