Research Initiation: Development of a Survey Instrument to Identify Mental Health Related Help-Seeking Beliefs in Engineering Students

大学校园中心理健康问题的流行越来越受到关注。虽然这个问题并不是工科学生独有的，但全国数据显示，工科学生寻求专业帮助的可能性明显低于其他学生。此外，心理健康问题在毕业后仍然存在，工程师是自杀率最高的五大职业之一。为了更好地理解这个问题的根本原因，必须确定影响工程专业学生决定寻求或不寻求心理健康问题帮助的信念。本研究将发展一个调查工具，以测量影响工程系本科生寻求帮助决定的信念。识别预测学生心理健康相关求助行为的信念将使研究者能够制定有针对性的干预策略，减少心理健康相关求助的障碍。重塑工程身份，以支持心理健康相关的求助，可以增加成功和保留的风险学生。此外，寻求帮助的意愿的增加可以改善毕业后个人的心理健康，从而形成更有弹性和持久性的工程劳动力。本项目将通过对工程专业学生对寻求心理健康相关问题的帮助的信念进行理论上的基础性研究，来解决工程专业的心理健康问题。本研究将回答两个关键的研究问题：1）工科学生的心理健康相关求助信念是什么？2)研究人员如何通过自我报告调查工具评估这些信念？该项目将利用综合行为模型（IBM），这是一个经验支持的社会科学框架，可用于确定影响特定人群行为的信念。IBM的一个核心组成部分是使用定性访谈，这将被用来确定影响工程专业学生的心理健康相关的求助的关键信念。因此，本项目将首先通过与不同的（例如，专业、学习年份、性别、种族/民族）的学生群体。定性编码和主题分析将确定新兴的主题和信念。这些数据将被用来开发一个调查工具，以定量测量求助信念。该工具将反映学生的观点和规范，通过工程形成过程中发展。该仪器将进行迭代试点测试，以确保可靠性，有效性和清晰度为不同的工程专业学生。此外，与寻求帮助的意图相关的关键信念将被确定。该项目的核心产品将是一个全面的研究工具，用于确定工程专业学生的心理健康相关的求助信念。这项研究工具的大规模实施将允许识别的关键信念，可以有针对性的干预策略，以改善心理健康相关的求助本科engineering students.This奖反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The prevalence of mental health problems on college campuses is of increasing concern. While the issue is not unique to the engineering student population, national data show that engineering students are significantly less likely than other students to seek professional help. Additionally, mental health concerns persist past graduation, with engineers among the top five occupations with the highest suicide rate. To better understand the root cause of this problem, the beliefs that influence engineering students’ decisions to seek or not seek help for a mental health concern must be identified. This fundamental study will develop a survey instrument to measure the beliefs that affect engineering undergraduate students’ decisions to seek help. Identification of the beliefs that predict students’ mental health related help-seeking behaviors will enable researchers to develop targeted intervention strategies that reduce barriers to mental health related help-seeking. Reshaping engineering identity to be supportive of mental health related help-seeking could increase success and retention of at-risk students. Furthermore, increased willingness to seek help could improve individuals’ mental health beyond graduation, resulting in a more resilient and persistent engineering workforce.This project will address the issue of mental health in engineering through a theoretically grounded, foundational study of engineering students’ beliefs about seeking help for mental health-related concerns. The project will answer two key research questions: 1) What are engineering students’ mental health related help-seeking beliefs? 2) How can researchers assess these beliefs via a self-report survey instrument? The project will utilize the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM), an empirically supported social scientific framework that can be applied to identify beliefs that influence behavior within a given population. A central component of the IBM is the use of qualitative interviews, which will be used to identify key beliefs that influence engineering students’ mental health related help-seeking. Thus, this project will first identify the beliefs held by undergraduate engineers through interviews with a diverse (e.g., major, year of study, gender, race/ethnicity) group of students. Qualitative coding and thematic analysis will identify emergent themes and beliefs. These data will be used to develop a survey instrument to measure help-seeking beliefs quantitatively. This instrument will reflect the student perspectives and norms developed through the engineering formation process. The instrument will undergo iterative pilot testing to ensure reliability, validity, and clarity for diverse engineering students. Additionally, key beliefs associated with help-seeking intentions will be identified. The core product of the project will be a comprehensive research instrument useful for identifying mental health related help-seeking beliefs in engineering students. Large scale implementation of this research instrument will allow for identification of key beliefs that can be targeted with intervention strategies to improve mental health related help-seeking in undergraduate engineering students.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.