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

本项目通过描述大学生在学术课程中所感知的心理健康在工程文化中的作用来解决大学生工程课程中的心理健康危机。此外，该项目探讨了教师，工作人员和管理人员在延续或拆除高压力文化作为工程成功的必要因素的看法中的作用。该项目的成果将支持改善和发展积极的干预措施，以支持积极的心理健康和福祉在本科工程课程。改善工程专业本科生的心理健康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训工程师以应对重大挑战的需求。该项目的结果还将提高对工程专业本科生心理健康的认识，促进直接影响本科生课程氛围的教职员工和管理人员之间的讨论。这些讨论将进一步有助于增加采用基于研究的实践和干预措施，以支持心理健康和促进学生的福祉。综合研究和教育计划支持在工程本科课程中发展福祉文化。虽然文化和认知规范有关键的招聘和保留的影响，没有研究探讨了高压力文化的作用，特别是对于代表性不足的学生谁可能已经面临着“冷冰冰的的气候”或“恐吓的气候”。该项目使用混合方法解决这一知识差距，将教育工作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透镜来研究工程文化，以确定高压力文化如何演变的关键因素，通过纵向研究，确定学生的压力源和应对机制。纵向研究的结果将确定学生对这种文化的反应模式，并通过对不同群体学生的定性访谈进行进一步分析。此外，该项目将确定抵制高压力文化概念的学生所使用的应对机制，这将为促进学生福祉的积极培训提供信息。了解学生如何积极科普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。在当地和全国范围内建立社区将提高对工程中心理健康的认识，强调发展积极文化的必要性，并促进更广泛地实施基于研究的实践，以支持学生的福祉。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为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来支持。

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.