Collaborative Research: Mental Health Opportunities for Professional Empowerment in STEM (HOPES)

合作研究：STEM 专业赋权的心理健康机会 (HOPES)

• 批准号: 2105251
• 负责人: Sarah Keller
• 金额: $ 17.33万
• 依托单位: Montana State University - Billings
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-15 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2105251&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Mental; Health; Opportunities

The National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) award to Montana Technological University, Montana State University-Billings, and the University of Montana will develop and test a suite of innovative strategies to improve the mental health and resilience of graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To accomplish this goal, the project includes interventions for both graduate students and the faculty mentors with whom they work closely, and it seeks to help transform the cultures of the departments to become more supportive and inclusive. This project addresses a gap in proven approaches to help graduate students manage the significant mental and emotional stresses and pressures they face. Counseling available on campuses mostly is designed for undergraduates, and little is known about how to empower STEM graduate students to cope with the stresses of their challenging research projects; overcome stigma, self doubt, and social isolation; and promote help-seeking and a sense of belonging. The situation is even tougher for women and minority students, veterans, students with disabilities, and students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Improving the well-being of diverse graduate students will boost their prospects for successful STEM careers – thereby accelerating science and engineering progress and contributing to American economic growth and competitiveness. The project goal is to design and pilot an innovative model for fostering graduate students’ life-long skills for mental health awareness and well-being, while transforming the way faculty engage with graduate students. The first step will be to conduct baseline surveys of students and faculty to obtain information needed to prioritize and design educational interventions. Project components will include: 1) activities to reduce stigma; 2) facilitated psychoeducational peer mentoring to assist students in developing effective coping strategies and enhanced resilience; 3) STEM faculty workshops aimed at implementing holistic mentoring, enhancing inclusiveness, and transforming departmental climates; and 4) activities engaging advisors and advisees together in collaborative problem solving. After refining the approach and demonstrating effectiveness on the three campuses, the team will assist three other universities in adapting the approaches to demonstrate scale up. Overall, the project will establish an innovative, effective, and replicable model for improving STEM graduate education by elevating positive mental health to an important outcome. Evaluation feedback will help improve the activities and measure progress toward achievement of the goal. Activity descriptions, facilitator guides, curricula, and scale-up guides will be published and disseminated.This project is jointly funded by the IGE program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test, and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.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.

美国国家科学基金会研究生教育创新（IGE）奖授予蒙大拿州理工大学、蒙大拿州立大学比林斯分校和蒙大拿州大学，他们将开发和测试一套创新策略，以改善科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）研究生的心理健康和适应能力。为了实现这一目标，该项目包括对研究生和与他们密切合作的教师导师的干预，并寻求帮助转变部门的文化，使其变得更具支持性和包容性。该项目解决了在帮助研究生管理他们所面临的重大精神和情绪压力的有效方法方面的空白。校园里提供的咨询主要是为本科生设计的，人们对如何让STEM研究生应对具有挑战性的研究项目的压力知之甚少；克服耻辱、自我怀疑和社会孤立；促进寻求帮助和归属感。对于女性、少数民族学生、退伍军人、残疾学生和来自弱势背景的学生来说，情况更加艰难。提高多样化研究生的福利将提高他们在STEM职业生涯中取得成功的前景，从而加速科学和工程进步，为美国的经济增长和竞争力做出贡献。该项目的目标是设计和试点一种创新模式，以培养研究生的终身心理健康意识和福祉技能，同时改变教师与研究生互动的方式。第一步将是对学生和教师进行基线调查，以获得优先考虑和设计教育干预措施所需的信息。项目组成部分将包括：1)减少污名的活动；2)促进心理教育同伴辅导，帮助学生制定有效的应对策略，增强心理弹性；3) STEM教师研讨会，旨在实施整体指导，增强包容性，改变部门氛围；4)让顾问和被顾问一起合作解决问题的活动。在完善了方法并在三个校区展示了有效性之后，该团队将协助其他三所大学调整方法以扩大规模。总体而言，该项目将建立一个创新、有效和可复制的模式，通过将积极的心理健康提升到一个重要的成果，来改善STEM研究生教育。评估反馈将有助于改进活动和衡量实现目标的进展。将出版和分发活动说明、促进者指南、课程和扩大规模指南。该项目由IGE计划和促进竞争性研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。研究生教育创新（IGE）项目专注于研究生教育的研究。IGE的目标是试点、测试和验证研究生教育的创新方法，并产生将这些方法推广到更广泛的社区所需的知识。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。