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Evaluation ViewAttendees 3

Technology/Digital Health
Session Type:: Symposia

Symposium 11 - Bridging Gaps in Access to Care: Designing, Adapting, Testing, and Disseminating Single-Session Interventions for Young People

Friday, November 21, 2025
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM CST
Location: Empire B, Level 2
CE: 1.5

Keywords: Child, Technology / Mobile Health, Treatment/ Program Design
Level of Familiarity: Basic to Moderate
Recommended Readings: Schleider, J. L., Zapata J.P., Rapoport, A., Wescott, A., Ghosh, A., Kaveladze, B., Szkody, E., & Ahuvia I. (in press). Single-session interventions for mental health problems and service engagement: Umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 21. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-081423-025033,   Peters-Corbett, A., Parke, S., Bear, H., & Clarke, T. (2024). Barriers and facilitators of implementation of evidence-based interventions in children and young people’s mental health care – a systematic review. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 29(3), 242-265. https://doi.org/10.111/camh.12672,   Joseph, J., & Rajan, S. K. (2024). Evolution of single-session therapy: A bibliometric analysis. The American Journal of Psychotherapy, 77(2), 71-78. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.20230054,   Kazdin, A. E. (2019). Annual research review: Expanding mental health services through novel models of intervention delivery. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 60(4), 455-472. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12937,  

Many young people who need mental health treatment are unable to access it due to attitudinal barriers and systematic, financial, and operational barriers in systems of care. Therefore, there is a critical need for effective, sustainable service models that both provide rapid access to support and reduce operational burden. Single-session interventions (SSIs) include core elements of evidence-based treatments and intentionally involve one visit or encounter with a clinic, provider, or program. SSIs can reduce a range of mental health problems in young people, with effects persisting up to one year later. Given their brevity, effectiveness, and relatively low burden on systems of care, SSIs show promise in bridging gaps in access to mental health care for young people.

This symposium describes applied examples of each stage in the SSI development and implementation process: how SSIs are designed, adapted to meet the needs of diverse populations, tested and implemented in practice settings, and disseminated at scale. Presentations describe working with a range of stakeholders (e.g., youth, providers) and working within healthcare systems (e.g., hospitals, outpatient clinics) and other systems (e.g., public libraries) to reach young people. Presenters will describe the ways in which SSI employ mechanism-targeted design, detail barriers and facilitators to implementing SSIs, and explain how SSIs can provide immediate, interim support to young people waiting for other forms of care.

The first presentation reports on the design of a web-based SSI for adolescent depression to be implemented on a popular mental health screening website hosted by Mental Health America (MHA), a nonprofit organization. The presentation highlights co-design activities conducted with stakeholders (e.g., adolescents with lived experience), providers, and MHA staff. The second presentation details the practical steps and challenges involved in iteratively adapting a digital SSI originally developed for child anxiety to help caregivers of youth with eating disorders or developmental disabilities. The third presentation reports on effectiveness data from a randomized controlled trial of a digital SSI delivered to parents of youth on a waitlist for cognitive-behavioral therapy. The fourth presentation focuses on the implementation of a digital SSI for adolescents within a large public library setting. This project leverages a long-term community-academic partnership and community advisory board including adolescents, library workers, and community members. Finally, the fifth presentation describes strategies for implementing SSIs in global health settings, with a focus on a project supporting women in Goa, India experiencing domestic violence by delivering a SSI in primary care clinics.

The presenters bring their experiences from developing, adapting, testing, implementing, and disseminating SSIs for young people to highlight the ways in which SSIs are scalable, cost-effective, and reduce barriers to accessing support. The discussant will draw on his experience designing, testing, and disseminating SSIs.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Describe specific ways in which single-session interventions (SSI) can reduce barriers to mental healthcare for youth.
  2. Compare processes for engaging stakeholders in SSI design, adaptation, and implementation.
  3. Describe common mechanisms of change in SSIs.
  4. Identify approaches for scaling up implementation of SSIs across multiple contexts.

Presentations:

  • 3:05 PM - 3:22 PM CST
    (SYM 11) Designing a Digital Single-session Intervention Focused on Interpersonal Skills for Adolescents with Depression

    Speaker: Carter J. Funkhouser, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Columbia University

    Co-author: Trinity Tse, BA – Columbia University

    Co-author: Julia Greenblatt, BA – Columbia University

    Co-author: Samantha Salem, MD – Columbia University

    Co-author: Theresa Nguyen, MSW – Mental Health America

    Co-author: Laura Mufson, PhD – Columbia University

    Co-author: Jessica L. Schleider, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Northwestern University

    Co-author: Randy Auerbach, PhD, ABPP – Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University

  • 3:22 PM - 3:39 PM CST
    (SYM 11) Engaging Stakeholders and Experts by Experience to Adapt Parent-directed Digital Single Session Interventions

    Speaker: Jenna Y. Sung, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Boston University

    Co-author: Ariela Kaiser, Ph.D. – Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

    Co-author: Yufan Wang, B.A. – Northwestern University

    Co-author: Arielle Smith, B.A. – Northwestern University

    Co-author: Jocelyn Lebow, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Mayo Clinic

    Co-author: Lauren Swift, Ph.D. – Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

    Co-author: Kamryn Reynolds, B.A. – Northwestern University

    Co-author: Heather Risser, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

  • 3:39 PM - 3:56 PM CST
    (SYM 11) A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Single-session Intervention to Reduce Parental Accommodation of Anxiety in Children Awaiting CBT

    Speaker: Madelaine R. Abel, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Massachusetts General Hospital

    Co-author: Jessica L. Schleider, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Northwestern University

    Co-author: Alayna D'Amico, BA – Massachusetts General Hospital

    Co-author: Dina Hirshfeld-Becker, PhD – Massachusetts General Hospital

  • 3:56 PM - 4:13 PM CST
    (SYM 11) Implementing Digital Mental Health Programs for Teens into Public Libraries

    Speaker: Ashley A. Knapp, M.A., Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

    Co-author: Robert Simmons, Masters of Social Work (he/him/his) – Oak Park Public Library

    Co-author: Miguel Herrera, MA (he/him/his) – Northwestern University

  • 4:13 PM - 4:30 PM CST
    (SYM 11) So Many Treatments, so Little Access: Addressing the Paradox of Dissemination Challenges Through Single-session Interventions in Global Mental Health

    Speaker: Anushka R. Patel, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Massachusetts General Hospital