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

该项目通过描述本科生在学业过程中所感受到的心理健康在工程文化中的作用，来解决本科工程专业中的心理健康危机。此外，该项目还探讨了教职员工和管理人员在保持或消除认为高压力文化是工程学成功的必要因素的看法方面所扮演的角色。该项目的成果将支持改善和发展积极的干预措施，以支持本科生工程课程中积极的心理健康和福祉。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生和留住，这反过来又满足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课程环境的教职员工和管理人员之间的讨论，提高对工程专业本科生心理健康的认识。这些讨论将进一步促进以研究为基础的实践和干预措施的采用，以支持心理健康和促进学生的幸福感。综合研究和教育计划支持在工程本科课程中发展幸福感文化。尽管文化和被认为的规范对招生和留住有着重要的影响，但还没有研究考察高压力文化的作用，特别是对于那些可能已经面临“寒冷环境”或“恐吓环境”的代表不足的学生。该项目使用一种混合方法来解决这一知识差距，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。该项目通过社会认同理论的视角研究工程文化，通过一项确定学生压力源和应对机制的纵向研究，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，并将通过对不同群体的学生进行定性访谈来进一步分析。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，以促进学生的幸福感。了解学生如何在工程项目中积极应对和茁壮成长，将有助于进行积极的培训和早期干预，以促进心理健康，而不是被动的、基于缺陷的方法。在当地和全国建立社区将提高人们对工程学中心理健康的认识，强调发展积极文化的必要性，并促进更广泛地实施以研究为基础的实践，以支持学生的福祉。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.