Work-Related Mental Health Issues in Graduate Student Population (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
The journey of graduate students through academia can be a difficult road plagued with several roadblocks due to several intersectional factors. These difficulties often impact the students’ mental health with severe consequences on their well-being and personal and academic achievements. There is a critical need for researchers to conduct studies in response to the positive mental well-being for this group of trainees, considering their peculiar role in the scholarly environment. This study aimed to explore the scientific research on the health and well-being of graduate students; typify the scientific landscape and development trajectory, cooperation networks, and fundamental research areas; and identify areas of needed research in this field. A bibliometric analysis of articles indexed in Scopus and published in the past decade (2012 to 2021) was undertaken. The results revealed that the research on graduate students’ mental health and well-being has increased over the years, sig...
Mental Health in Academia: Get online to support wellbeing of graduate students
eLife, 2019
M ental health issues are a serious problem in academia, especially among graduate students where around 25– 40% face mental health concerns (Evans et al., 2018; Levecque et al., 2017; Barreira et al., 2018). Moreover, about half of those students will likely not receive treatment (SAMHSA, 2019). These figures highlight the pressing need for the academic community to both offer more support for graduate students struggling with their mental health and remove the barriers that prevent those students from getting help where it already exists. We are two PhD students at universities in the United States. We both also volunteer with PhD Balance, an online community dedicated to sharing resources and stories to empower graduate students professionally and personally. Susanna founded PhD Balance in 2018 (originally called "The PhDepression") to find other students managing mental illness while in graduate school. Liesl joined after her own mental health experiences lead her to r...
“How is your thesis going?” – Ph.D. students’ perspectives on mental health and stress in academia
PLoS ONE, 2023
Mental health issues among Ph.D. students are prevalent and on the rise, with multiple studies showing that Ph.D. students are more likely to experience symptoms of mental-health related issues than the general population. However, the data is still sparse and does not account for different situations. This study aims to investigate the mental health of 589 Ph.D. students at a public university in Germany with a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach. We administered a web-based self-report questionnaire to gather data on the causes of mental health problems, for instance, depression and anxiety, and potential areas for improvement. Our results revealed that one-third of the participants were above the cut-off for depression and that factors such as perceived stress and self-doubt were prominent predictors of the mental health status of Ph.D. students. Additionally, we found job insecurity and low job satisfaction to be predictors of stress and anxiety. A large number of partic...
Predicting stress and mental wellbeing among doctoral researchers
Journal of Mental Health, 2020
Background: Although mental health in higher education is increasingly recognised as a public health issue, postgraduate research students are often overlooked. Recent studies indicate a high prevalence of mental distress in this population. Aims: This study assesses the experience of doctoral researchers and identifies factors influencing mental wellbeing and perceived stress. Methods: A cross-sectional study examined how key demographic, individual and contextual factors related to stress and mental wellbeing in a sample of 431 doctoral researchers in the United Kingdom. Results: Respondents gave positive reports about their supervisory relationship and identified feeling confidently prepared for their work. Family support, good general health, sleep and low levels of selfdepreciation predicted stronger mental wellbeing and lower levels of stress. Students who were confident about their future career and felt well prepared for their studies were less stressed and those who were achievement orientated had better mental wellbeing. Conclusions: Focused attention on exploring career options and building confidence may help reduce stress among doctoral researchers. Taking steps to tackle the imposter phenomenon may help further. These could include addressing fear of failure, improving confidence in research ability and clarifying the role of doctoral researchers within the wider academic community.
Mental health in academia: Hacks for cultivating and sustaining wellbeing
American Journal of Human Biology, 2021
Mental health concerns among university populations are on the rise. Faculty and students report increasing levels of depression, stress, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. These mental health crises reduce overall wellness and inhibit the educational process. We identify uncertainty, financial stress, disruptions to social networks, burnout, and the contemporary social/political climate as key triggers for mental health crises for faculty and students. Faculty are in a position to provide support to one another and their students and as such, we provide strategies that attend to these triggers and complement other forms of intervention. We do not intend these "hacks" to supplant structural change or reputable medical advice; rather, they are intended to help focus attention on the importance and magnitude of mental health concerns in academia and to offer some strategies that faculty can implement.
Correlates and Predictors of Depression and Anxiety Disorders in Graduate Students
2017
Depression and anxiety are increasingly prevalent on college campuses; however, few studies have explored these disorders among graduate students. Purpose of this study was to examine prevalence, correlates and predictors of depression and anxiety among graduate students. This cross-sectional study used secondary data (N=4477) collected as part of the Healthy Minds Study. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) was used as the screening instrument. Multiple logistic regression examined the effect of demographic and social variables on the outcome of screening positive. Results showed 14.0% screened positive for depression, 9.5% for anxiety, 19.1% for either, and 4.4% for both. Depression correlates included: race/ethnicity, nationality, living situation, relationship status and finances growing up. Anxiety correlates included: sex, nationality, sexual orientation, and current finances. Validated predictors for depression were relationship status and finances growing up. Validated pre...
Burnout syndrome and mental health of higher education professors in medicine: an integrative review (Atena Editora), 2024
Burnout Syndrome is a psychological disorder composed of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal fulfillment. Currently, it is gaining prominence in the medical and academic profession at the teaching level, where professionals deal with exhausting workloads and intimate contact with people, which can often be stressful and also cause professional and emotional exhaustion. Therefore, the focus of the study was to investigate the relationships between Burnout Syndrome and the mental health of medical teachers. The methodology consisted of an integrative literature review, carried out in October 2023, using the descriptors: emotional stress, medical teachers, burnout syndrome, medicine and teachers, using journals such as: PePSIC, Lilacs, VHL, Pubmed and Scielo. Results were found that indicate a greater prevalence of this syndrome in health professionals and a large scale of presence among university professors, however, not specifically in medicine, which presented a thematic relevance according to the low scientific production found, transforming this article into a production of scientific relevance, given the scarcity of studies. It is concluded that the high workload within the academic perspective encourages an inclination towards exponential mental exhaustion, making it necessary to develop new scientific investigations into the relationship between this mental health condition among the class of medical teachers, according to the lack of specific scientific evidence in this area, with a focus on expanding discussions and promoting better management strategies regarding care related to this professional category.
2020
Introduction: Recent research has revealed high rates of mental health issues in postgraduate researchers (PGRs). Mental ill-health is a barrier to life satisfaction and academic success. More knowledge is necessary to understand the extent and origins of mental health problems of PGRs in the UK. Aims: To assess the prevalence of anxiety, depression, sleep problems, subjective mental wellbeing, and suicide behaviours of PGRs in the UK, as well as to explore the factors that underpin these outcomes.Methods: An online survey (N=479) was used to measure the mental health outcomes, and assess the influence of demographic, trait and academic variables, and social support. Results: In this sample the prevalence of mental ill-health was high, while wellbeing was lower than in the general population. Female, non-binary and non-heterosexual PGRs had poorer mental health than their male and/or heterosexual counterparts. Researchers in the field of Arts had higher levels of wellbeing, while th...
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 2020
Substance use and mental health problems are associated with academic difficulties among high school and undergraduate students, but little research has been conducted on these relationships among graduate students. The sample consisted of 2683 graduate students attending two large, public universities. Standard measures were used to collect data on demographic and program characteristics, mental health, substance use, advisor satisfaction, and burnout (i.e., exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy). Linear regression models evaluated the relationships between each mental health and substance use variable with burnout, as well as the moderating role of advisor satisfaction. Students with a greater number of substance use and mental health problems had higher levels of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. No statistically significant relationships between substance use and burnout were found. High levels of stress, moderate or severe anxiety symptoms, and moderate or severe depressive symptoms were associated with increased levels of burnout. Advisor support moderated the relationships between stress and both cynicism and inefficacy such that the effects of stress on these dimensions of burnout were lower among those who were satisfied with their advisor. Graduate students with mental health problems might be at increased risk for burnout; however, having a supportive advisor might buffer this association.
Higher education research and development, 2018
Recent research into the mental health of PhD candidates suggests that their high levels of stress could be caused in part or exacerbated by aspects of the doctoral education environment. However, the particulars of this environment have not been explored in consistent enough ways to provide a clear way forward for universities to respond to this issue. This article presents a systematic scoping review of the recent literature on this topic with the aims of collecting and consolidating the heterogeneous range of findings therein and providing a framework to coordinate further research and inform intervention design. Factors shown by the literature to contribute to stress in doctoral settings are presented, including problems in the supervisory relationship, lack of transparency of university processes, workload, role conflict, financial insecurity and uncertain career prospects. Analysis of the review sample indicates four main themes in this body of literature: shifting ideas about the range of environmental stressors and the relationships between them, a paucity of trialled interventions that target the range of known stressors, a lack of standardisation in instruments used for capturing the effects of stressors and evaluating interventions and finally, a need for comprehensive, agreed upon typologiesto integrate what is known about the issue and prioritise interventions. This article proposes guidelines to address these deficiencies, based on an ecological understanding of the doctoral research setting.