Collaborative Research: Research: Characterizing Engineering Student Mental Wellness and Its Role in Predicting Engineering Attrition

提高工程师留职率的必要性，以及心理健康和学生总体成功之间的相关性都得到了很好的证明。然而，还没有一项全面的研究来探索心理健康和工科学生成功或留住之间的关系。这项研究的贡献是重大的，因为分析了心理健康问题是如何影响学生的？坚持工程，并对工程部门提供的心理健康资源进行分类，使项目能够识别和支持高危学生，提高他们成功留住并毕业于不同类别工程师的能力。该项目的结果是：1)描述不同工科学生群体的心理健康状况，包括整个项目中疾病的患病率如何变化以及人口群体之间的不平等；2)描述结果1与坚持工程学的意图之间的关系；3)描述学生的特征？对他们可用的心理健康资源的认识；4)工程专业学生在心理健康资源方面的需求或差距的清单；5)考虑到心理健康的工程专业学生成功和保持的模型，以及6)针对利益相关者的材料和培训。这个项目的目标是研究学生的心理健康因素如何影响所有背景的工科学生的坚持性。具体的研究目标是：1)表征工科学生的心理健康及其与坚持性的关系；2)表征与心理健康相关的制度性实践和服务。第一个目标是通过一项混合方法的纵向研究来实现的，该研究包括对全国各地以研究为导向的大型工程学校和规模较小的以教学为导向的工程学校以及少数族裔服务机构的工程专业学生进行调查和访谈。这项调查是对经过验证的工具的汇编，定性访谈将用于探索调查中出现的深入主题。第二个研究目标正在通过与参与机构的调查来实现，以收集关于如何以及在多大程度上将精神健康资源和材料纳入工程计划的信息。教育的目标是为管理者、辅导员、教职员工、顾问和学生开发基于研究的、可操作的资源。这是通过编写材料和向不同利益攸关方群体分发互动培训来实现的。每套材料或培训都针对特定的利益相关者群体，并在心理健康专业人员的指导下设计。这项研究具有重要意义，因为它是第一次专门针对工科学生深入研究心理健康和留存之间的关系。创建的教育材料通过提供第一个基于研究的干预措施来加强地方和国家的智力基础设施。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

Both the need for increasing retention rates among engineers, and the correlation between mental wellness and general student success are well documented. However, there has been no comprehensive study exploring the relationships between mental wellness and engineering student success or retention. This studyss contribution is significant because analyzing how mental wellness issues affect students? persistence in engineering and cataloguing a list of mental wellness resources offered by engineering departments allows programs to identify and support at-risk students, increasing their ability to successfully retain and graduate a diverse class of engineers. The outcomes of this project are: 1) characterizations of mental wellness of various engineering student populations, including how prevalence of conditions changes throughout the program and any inequities across demographic groups; 2) characterizations of the relationships between Outcome 1 and intention to persist in engineering; 3) characterization of students? awareness of mental wellness resources available to them; 4) a list of needs or gaps in mental wellness resources for engineering students; 5) a model of engineering student success and retention that accounts for mental wellness, and 6) stakeholder-specific materials and trainings. The goal of this project is to study how student mental wellness factors into persistence for engineering students from all backgrounds. The specific research aims are: 1) to characterize the mental wellness of engineering students and its relationship to persistence, and 2) to characterize institutional practices and services related to mental wellness. The first aim is being accomplished through a mixed-methods, longitudinal study consisting of surveys and interviews with engineering students at both large research-oriented and smaller teaching-oriented engineering schools, and Minority Serving Institutions around the country. The survey is a compilation of validated instruments, and qualitative interviews will be used to explore in-depth themes that emerge from the survey. The second research aim is being accomplished through a survey with participating institutions to collect information on how and to what extent mental wellness resources and materials are incorporated into the engineering program. The education aim is to develop research-based, actionable resources for administrators, counselors, faculty, advisors, and students. This is being accomplished through the development of materials and interactive trainings disseminated to different groups of stakeholders. Each set of materials or trainings targets a specific group of stakeholders and is designed with guidance from mental health professionals. This study is significant because it is the first in-depth study of the relationship between mental wellness and retention specifically for engineering students. Educational materials created enhance intellectual infrastructure locally and nationally by providing the first research-based interventions of this kind.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.