CAREER: Supporting Undergraduate Mental Health by Building a Culture of Wellness in Engineering

本项目通过描述本科生在其学术课程过程中所感知到的工程文化中心理健康的角色，来解决本科工程项目中的心理健康危机。此外，该项目探讨了教师、员工和管理人员在延续或拆除高压力文化作为工程成功必要因素的看法方面的作用。该项目的成果将支持改进和发展积极的干预措施，以支持本科工程项目的积极心理健康和福祉。改善工程专业本科生的心理健康状况将改善工程专业的招聘和保留，这反过来又解决了国家对培养工程师以应对重大挑战的需求。该项目的结果还将通过促进直接影响本科项目氛围的教职员工和管理人员之间的讨论，提高对工程项目中本科生心理健康的认识。这些讨论将进一步有助于更多地采用基于研究的做法和干预措施，以支持心理健康和促进学生福祉。综合研究和教育计划支持在工程本科课程中发展幸福文化。虽然文化和认知规范对招生和留用有着至关重要的影响，但没有研究调查过高压力文化的作用，特别是对于那些可能已经面临“寒冷气候”或“恐吓气候”的代表性不足的学生。该项目采用混合方法设计，将教育者控制范围内的因素与看似失控的结果（心理健康）联系起来，解决了这一知识差距。该项目通过社会认同理论研究工程文化，通过纵向研究确定学生压力源和应对机制，以确定高压力文化如何演变的关键因素。纵向研究的结果将确定学生对这种文化的反应模式，并将通过对来自不同群体的学生进行定性访谈进一步分析。此外，该项目将确定抵制高压力文化概念的学生使用的应对机制，这将为积极主动的培训提供信息，以促进学生的福祉。了解学生如何积极应对并在工程项目中茁壮成长，将为积极的培训和早期干预提供信息，以促进心理健康，而不是被动的、基于缺陷的方法。在地方和全国范围内建立社区，将提高工程学对心理健康的认识，强调发展积极文化的必要性，并促进更广泛地实施基于研究的实践，以支持学生的福祉。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。

This project addresses the mental health crisis in undergraduate engineering programs by characterizing the role of mental health in engineering culture as perceived by undergraduates over the course of their academic programs. Further, the project explores the role of faculty, staff, and administrators in perpetuating or dismantling the perception of a high stress culture as a necessary factor for success in engineering. The outcomes of the project will support the improvement and development of proactive interventions to support positive mental health and well-being in undergraduate engineering programs. Improving undergraduate mental health in engineering programs will improve recruitment and retention in engineering programs, which in turn addresses the national need of training engineers to address grand challenges. The results of the project will also raise awareness of undergraduate mental health in engineering programs by facilitating discussions among faculty, staff, and administrators who directly impact the climate in undergraduate programs. These discussions will further serve to increase the adoption of research-based practices and interventions to support mental health and promote student well-being.The integrated research and education plan supports the development of a culture of well-being in engineering undergraduate programs. Though culture and perceived norms have critical recruitment and retention implications, no research has examined the role of a high-stress culture, particularly for underrepresented students who may already face a "chilly climate" or "climate of intimidation". The project addresses this knowledge gap using a mixed methods design to connect factors within the control of educators to outcomes seemingly out of control (mental health). The project studies engineering culture through the lens of social identity theory to identify key factors in how the high-stress culture evolves through a longitudinal study that identifies student stressors and coping mechanisms. The results of the longitudinal study will identify patterns in student responses to this culture, which will be further analyzed by qualitative interviews with students from different groups. Further, the project will identify coping mechanisms utilized by students who resist the notion of a high stress culture, which will inform proactive trainings to promote student well-being. Understanding how students positively cope and thrive in engineering programs will inform proactive trainings and early interventions to promote mental wellness instead of reactive, deficit-based approaches. Building communities both locally and nationally will raise awareness of mental health in engineering, emphasize the need to develop positive culture, and promote wider implementations of research-based practices to support student well-being.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.