Collaborative Research: Research: Characterizing Engineering Student Mental Wellness and Its Role in Predicting Attrition

提高工程师保留率的必要性，以及心理健康与一般学生成功之间的相关性都有很好的记录。然而，一直没有全面的研究探讨心理健康和工程专业学生的成功或保留之间的关系。这项研究的贡献是重要的，因为分析心理健康问题如何影响学生？坚持工程和编目由工程部门提供的心理健康资源的列表允许程序，以确定和支持有风险的学生，提高他们的能力，成功地保留和毕业的工程师多样化的类。该项目的成果是：1）各种工程专业学生群体的心理健康特征，包括在整个项目中条件的变化以及人口统计学群体之间的任何不平等; 2）成果1和坚持工程学的意图之间的关系特征; 3）学生的特征？对他们可用的心理健康资源的认识; 4）工程专业学生心理健康资源的需求或差距清单; 5）工程专业学生成功和保留的模型，占心理健康，以及6）特定于学生的材料和培训。这个项目的目标是研究学生的心理健康因素如何影响来自各种背景的工程专业学生的持久性。具体的研究目标是：1）表征工科学生的心理健康及其与持久性的关系，2）表征与心理健康相关的机构实践和服务。第一个目标是通过混合方法，纵向研究，包括调查和采访工程专业的学生在大型研究型和小型教学型工程学校，少数民族服务机构在全国各地。该调查汇编了经过验证的工具，将使用定性访谈来深入探讨调查中出现的主题。第二个研究目标是通过对参与机构的调查来实现的，以收集有关如何以及在多大程度上将心理健康资源和材料纳入工程计划的信息。教育目的是为管理人员，辅导员，教师，顾问和学生开发基于研究的，可操作的资源。目前正在通过编写材料和向不同利益攸关方群体分发互动式培训来实现这一目标。每一套材料或培训都针对特定的利益攸关方群体，并在心理健康专业人员的指导下设计。这项研究意义重大，因为它是第一次深入研究心理健康和保留之间的关系，专门为工程专业的学生。创建的教育材料通过提供此类第一个基于研究的干预措施来增强地方和国家的知识基础设施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Both the need for increasing retention rates among engineers, and the correlation between mental wellness and general student success are well documented. However, there has been no comprehensive study exploring the relationships between mental wellness and engineering student success or retention. This studyss contribution is significant because analyzing how mental wellness issues affect students? persistence in engineering and cataloguing a list of mental wellness resources offered by engineering departments allows programs to identify and support at-risk students, increasing their ability to successfully retain and graduate a diverse class of engineers. The outcomes of this project are: 1) characterizations of mental wellness of various engineering student populations, including how prevalence of conditions changes throughout the program and any inequities across demographic groups; 2) characterizations of the relationships between Outcome 1 and intention to persist in engineering; 3) characterization of students? awareness of mental wellness resources available to them; 4) a list of needs or gaps in mental wellness resources for engineering students; 5) a model of engineering student success and retention that accounts for mental wellness, and 6) stakeholder-specific materials and trainings. The goal of this project is to study how student mental wellness factors into persistence for engineering students from all backgrounds. The specific research aims are: 1) to characterize the mental wellness of engineering students and its relationship to persistence, and 2) to characterize institutional practices and services related to mental wellness. The first aim is being accomplished through a mixed-methods, longitudinal study consisting of surveys and interviews with engineering students at both large research-oriented and smaller teaching-oriented engineering schools, and Minority Serving Institutions around the country. The survey is a compilation of validated instruments, and qualitative interviews will be used to explore in-depth themes that emerge from the survey. The second research aim is being accomplished through a survey with participating institutions to collect information on how and to what extent mental wellness resources and materials are incorporated into the engineering program. The education aim is to develop research-based, actionable resources for administrators, counselors, faculty, advisors, and students. This is being accomplished through the development of materials and interactive trainings disseminated to different groups of stakeholders. Each set of materials or trainings targets a specific group of stakeholders and is designed with guidance from mental health professionals. This study is significant because it is the first in-depth study of the relationship between mental wellness and retention specifically for engineering students. Educational materials created enhance intellectual infrastructure locally and nationally by providing the first research-based interventions of this kind.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.