Supporting Mental Health Among STEM Students: The REDFLAGS Model

While the future of college student mental health is leaning towards systemic-level integrated behavioral health care models, existing mental health support for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students remains highly individual. The REDFLAGS Model is a mental health resource comprising an acronym of warning signs that suggest a college student might be struggling with mental distress. The aim of this study was to test the utility of The REDFLAGS Model, with a large sample of STEM students (<i>N</i> = 358). Results revealed support for the latent dimensionality of The REDFLAGS Model among a large sample of STEM students. Results also demonstrated that higher recognition of the items on The REDFLAGS Model as warning signs for mental distress was a significant predictor of peer-to-peer referrals to counseling among STEM students. Additionally, STEM students with help-seeking histories and those who identified as female were more likely to recognize the items on The REDFLAGS Model as warning signs of mental distress than those without help-seeking histories and men, respectively. Collectively, results indicated that The REDFLAGS Model has potential to provide college counselors with an empirically supported framework for supporting STEM student mental health. It is available at no cost and can be shared in print or digital formats.