Research Initiation: Graduate Student Mental Health and Stress in Engineering

心理健康是研究生课程成功的关键因素。然而，以前的研究表明，研究生教育中的心理健康危机日益严重，这可能导致生产力，离职和学生幸福感的问题。工程专业的学生也不能幸免于这场危机，但他们是最不可能因心理健康问题寻求帮助的学科之一。尽管有这种趋势，有一个相对缺乏的文献，以提供基于证据的做法，以解决工程研究生的心理健康问题的原因和持久性。为了满足这一需求，并开始倡导系统性变革的过程中，这个项目将探讨教师和学生对心理健康的态度如何与机构的特点，指导行动时，心理健康危机的交叉。了解学术界心理健康的这些方面是改变导致工程学心理健康危机持续存在的政策和做法的第一步。该项目将开发基于证据的实践，以改善研究生工程课程的学生心理健康服务。本研究还将培养一个新的工程教育教师，培养他的技能，并装备他是一个有贡献的成员，工程教育研究社区。为了实现上述目标，本研究将系统地探讨教师和学生对心理健康的态度如何相交的机构功能和形状程序的趋势。具体而言，本项目将回答以下研究问题：（1）影响学生心理健康态度的机构和个人特征是什么？(2)影响教师对心理健康态度的机构和个人特征是什么？(3)工程学位课程对心理健康的不同态度是什么？为了回答这三个研究问题，本研究将采用三阶段多方法定性研究。在第一阶段，将通过使用解释现象学分析来检查工程研究生和工程教师对心理健康的态度。每个小组的态度将分别进行检查，然后每个小组将进行比较，以了解这些看法交叉和影响行动的方式。利用第一阶段的经验，第二阶段将完善现有的采访协议，并开发一个演绎编码的代码本。第3阶段将利用第1阶段和第2阶段的结果，以现象学的方式研究研究生和教师对心理健康的态度是如何影响跨部门的结构和文化。每个阶段的结果将突出参与者的生活经历如何影响他们对心理健康的态度和行动，以及制度结构如何在这些态度中产生变化。所有阶段的调查结果将用于改变加剧心理健康危机的机构政策和做法。具体而言，我们将与大学咨询中心和工程项目合作，制定与新发现和现有最佳实践相一致的政策和培训。培训将在当地和全国范围内进行，以传播支持工程研究生发展的模式。这项工作的共同努力将发展一个新的工程教育研究人员，同时改变文化默认，以消除障碍，污名，和后果，围绕寻求心理健康服务。这个奖项反映了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。

Mental health is a key attribute for success in graduate programs. However, previous studies demonstrate a growing mental health crisis in graduate education, which can contribute to issues with productivity, departure, and student well-being. Engineering students are not immune to this crisis, yet are one of the least likely disciplines to seek help for mental health concerns. Despite this trend, there is a relative lack of literature available to provide evidence-based practices for addressing the causes and persistence of mental health issues for engineering graduate students. To address this need and to begin the process of advocating for systemic change, this project will explore how faculty and student attitudes about mental health intersect with the institutional features that direct action when a mental health crisis arises. Understanding these facets of mental health in academia is a first step toward changing the policies and practices that have perpetuated the mental health crisis in engineering. This project will develop evidence-based practices to improve student mental health services in graduate engineering programs. The study will also develop a new engineering education faculty member by fostering his skills and equipping him to be a contributing member of the engineering education research community.To accomplish the above goals, this study will systematically explore how faculty and student attitudes about mental health intersect with institutional features and shape programmatic trends. Specifically, the project will answer the following research questions: (1) What are the institutional and individual features that influence students’ attitudes about mental health? (2) What are the institutional and individual features that influence faculty attitudes about mental health? (3) What are the different attitudes about mental health across engineering degree programs? To answer the three research questions, this work will employ a three-phase multi-method qualitative study. In Phase 1, engineering graduate students’ and engineering faculty’s attitudes about mental health will be examined through the use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The attitudes of each group will be examined separately and then each group will be compared to understand the ways these perceptions intersect and influence action. Leveraging the experiences of Phase 1, Phase 2 will refine existing interview protocols and develop a codebook for deductive coding. Phase 3 will utilize the results of Phases 1 and 2 to phenomenographically examine how graduate student and faculty attitudes about mental health are influenced across departmental structures and cultures. The results from each of these phases will highlight the ways participants’ lived experiences influence their attitudes about and actions toward mental health and the ways institutional structures create variability in these attitudes. Findings from all phases will be used to shift institutional policies and practices that exacerbate the mental health crisis. Specifically, we will work with university counseling centers and engineering programs to develop policies and training that are aligned with emergent findings and existing best practices. Training will be conducted locally and nationally to propagate models that support engineering graduate student development. The combined efforts of this work will develop a new engineering education researcher while shifting cultural defaults to remove barriers, stigmas, and consequences that surround seeking mental health services.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.