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

授予蒙大拿理工大学、蒙大拿州立大学比林斯分校和蒙大拿大学的国家科学基金会研究生教育创新奖(IGE)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应变能力。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职员工导师进行干预，以帮助转变院系文化，使其变得更具支持性和包容性。这个项目解决了在帮助研究生管理他们所面临的巨大的精神和情感压力和压力方面的一个空白。校园里提供的咨询大多是为本科生设计的。因此，关于如何增强STEM研究生应对具有挑战性的研究项目的压力，克服耻辱、自我怀疑和社会孤立，以及促进求助和归属感，人们知之甚少。这些压力源对妇女和少数族裔学生、退伍军人、残疾学生和处境不利的学生来说是复杂的。改善不同研究生的幸福感将增加他们在STEM职业生涯中取得成功的前景，从而加快科学和工程进步，并为美国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幸福感技能，同时改变教师与研究生接触的方式。第一步是对学生和教职员工进行基线调查，以获得确定优先顺序和设计教育干预措施所需的信息。项目组成部分将包括：1)减少耻辱的活动；2)促进心理教育同行辅导，以帮助学生制定有效的应对策略和增强复原力；3)STEM教员讲习班，旨在实施全面辅导，增强包容性，并改变部门氛围；以及4)联合顾问和被咨询者合作解决问题的活动。在改进了方法并在三个校区展示了有效性后，该团队将协助其他三所大学调整这套活动，以展示扩大规模。总体而言，该项目将通过将积极的心理健康提升为一项重要成果，为改善STEM研究生教育建立一个创新、有效和可复制的模式。评价反馈将有助于改进活动并衡量实现目标的进展情况。活动描述、辅导者指南、课程和放大指南将被出版和传播。研究生教育创新(IGE)计划的重点是研究生教育研究。IGE的目标是试验、测试和验证研究生教育的创新方法，并产生将这些方法推向更广泛社区所需的知识。该项目由IGE计划和既定的激励竞争性研究计划(EPSCoR)共同资助。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。

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 as a means 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. As a result, 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. These stressors are compounded 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 this suite of activities 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.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 project is jointly funded by the IGE program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.