RAPID: Engineering Student Mental Wellness During the COVID-19 Pandemic

新冠肺炎疫情的结果是，一些学生会生病，可能情况危急，而另一些学生则可能面临家人生病，甚至死亡的风险。这些经历可能会让学生暴露在压力、不确定性和恐惧中，这些可能会影响他们未来几年的心理健康和学习表现。这项研究的贡献将是重大的，因为通过研究大流行的影响和学院对工科学生的反应，工程系将能够创造出量身定制的方法，帮助学生在大流行之后恢复并保持在毕业的轨道上。该项目的成果将包括：1)描述新冠肺炎疫情对不同工科学生群体的心理健康和压力水平的影响；2)描述学生在疫情期间使用的应对策略；3)学生对本国机构处理新冠肺炎疫情的方式以及课程提供和大学运营中的任何相关变化的积极和消极反应。这个项目的目标是研究新冠肺炎大流行的影响和学院对它的反应对所有背景的工科学生的心理健康和基线压力水平的影响。具体的研究目标是：1)确定新冠肺炎强加的条件如何影响学生的基线压力水平和心理健康；2)描述学生对该机构处理新冠肺炎疫情的能力的看法、学生应对策略，以及学生希望他们的机构采取不同做法的地方。这两个目标都将通过一项针对工科学生的全国性调查来实现。心理健康和压力水平将通过汇编经过验证的工具进行衡量。第二个目标将通过对一些关于学生意见和信仰的开放式问题的回答进行定性分析来实现。这项研究意义重大，因为它将是第一次评估流行病和其他大规模突发事件对工科学生心理健康和福祉的影响，并将有助于了解大学如何支持归国学生和未来处理此类危机。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, some students will fall ill, potentially critically, while others will face the prospect of sick family members, and even deaths in the family. These experiences are likely to expose students to stress, uncertainty, and fear that may affect their mental health and academic performance for years to come. This study’s contribution will be significant because by studying the effects of the pandemic and academy’s response to it on engineering students, engineering departments will be able to create tailored approaches to help students recover and stay on track for graduation in the aftermath of this pandemic. The outcomes of this project will include: 1) characterizations of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has on mental wellness and stress levels of various engineering student populations; 2) characterizations of coping strategies being used by students during the pandemic; 3) student reactions, positive and negative, to how their home institution handled the COVID-19 pandemic and any related changes in course delivery and university operations. The goal of this project is to study the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the academy’s response to it on mental health and baseline stress levels in engineering students from all backgrounds. The specific research aims are: 1) to determine how the conditions imposed by COVID-19 are affecting student baseline stress levels and mental wellness, and 2) to characterize student beliefs surrounding how well their institution has handled the COVID-19 outbreak, student coping strategies, and what students wish their institutions had done differently. Both aims will be accomplished through a nationwide survey targeting engineering students. Mental health and stress level will be measured with a compilation of validated instruments. The second aim will be accomplished through qualitative analysis of responses to a number of open-ended questions about student opinions and beliefs. This study is significant because it will be the first effort to assess the effects of pandemics and other large-scale emergencies on engineering students’ mental health and well-being, and will help inform how universities support returning students and handle such crises in the future.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.