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

提高工程师保留率的必要性，以及心理健康与学生总体成功之间的关系，都有充分的证据。然而，目前还没有全面的研究探讨心理健康与工程专业学生的成功或保留之间的关系。本研究的贡献是显著的，因为分析心理健康问题如何影响学生？坚持工程和编目工程部门提供的心理健康资源清单，使项目能够识别和支持有风险的学生，提高他们成功留住和毕业各种工程师的能力。该项目的结果是：1)各种工程学生群体的心理健康特征，包括在整个项目中疾病的流行程度变化以及人口群体之间的任何不平等；2)结果1与坚持工程意愿之间关系的特征；3)学生的性格特征？了解他们可获得的精神卫生资源；4)工科学生心理健康资源需求与缺口清单；5)一个工程专业学生成功和保留的模型，该模型考虑了心理健康；6)针对利益相关者的材料和培训。这个项目的目的是研究来自不同背景的工科学生的心理健康因素是如何影响他们的坚持的。具体的研究目的是：1)表征工程专业学生的心理健康及其与坚持的关系；2)表征与心理健康相关的机构实践和服务。第一个目标是通过一项混合方法的纵向研究来实现的，该研究包括对全国各地大型研究型和小型教学型工程学校以及少数民族服务机构的工程学生进行调查和访谈。该调查是经过验证的工具的汇编，定性访谈将用于探索调查中出现的深入主题。第二个研究目标是通过与参与的机构进行调查来完成，以收集有关心理健康资源和材料如何以及在多大程度上被纳入工程项目的信息。教育的目的是为管理人员、辅导员、教师、顾问和学生开发基于研究的、可操作的资源。这是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的。每一套材料或培训都针对特定的利益相关者群体，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与记忆的关系，特别是对工科学生。通过提供第一个以研究为基础的干预措施，所创建的教育材料加强了地方和国家的智力基础设施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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.