Limitations and areas for further research
The findings of the current study should be viewed as preliminary in the context of its limitations. This study employed a rigorous crossover design approach to explore the superiority of “Talk to Me” to treatment as usual. However, data collected at the end of Period 1 was used to assess change over the second period, with the carry effects from the first period remaining unknown. Also, as the current study did not collect information about other support or medications the students may have received during their enrollment or employ a methodology enabling daily sampling of students’ mental health during the study period, the effect of other factors influencing the study outcomes remains unknown.Given the nature and sensitivity of the topic covered in the “Talk-to-Me” MOOC, and according to the ethics recommendations, the researchers were allowed to recruit participants only within their schools, restricting findings to two faculties from two universities situated in Western Australia. Although this limitation provided an opportunity to pilot the program with students whose interests and professional goals aligned with the MOOC, future research may benefit from further exploration of how all university students across Australia may benefit from the “Talk-to-Me” MOOC.Further, between screening and commencement of the MOOC, participants were required to create a user profile on the edX platform, which may account for the number of dropouts between screening and intervention commencement [