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Graduate Student Mental Health Survey

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Being a female graduate student, ratings of competitiveness within a program, ... My advisor directs me to funding sources to support my graduate education. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Graduate Student Mental Health Survey


1
Graduate Student Mental Health Survey
  • Advising, Counseling and Mentoring Conference
  • March 21, 2005

Jenny Hyun and Brian Quinn Health Services and
Policy Analysis Program, School of Public Health
2
Graduate Student Mental Health Survey
  • Launched March 2004
  • Web survey conducted through the Office of
    Student Research
  • Sent to all registered graduate students with
    email addresses (n9200)
  • Non-respondents received up to three reminders
  • Response rate 34 (n3121)

3
Graduate Student Mental Health Survey
  • Survey contents
  • Department Climate
  • Mental Health Need
  • Access to/Utilization of Mental Health Services
  • Demographic information

4
School Groupings
() Percent representation in sample Other (2.1)
5
Graduate Student Mental Health Need
6
Mental Health NeedPercentage of Students
Expressing the Following Emotions Frequently or
All the Time
7
Mental Health Need
  • 44.7 of graduate students reported having an
    emotional or stress related problem over the past
    year.
  • 57.7 reported knowing of another UC Berkeley
    graduate student who had an emotional or
    stress-related problem that significantly
    affected their well being and/or academic
    performance
  • 50.2 considered seeking help for their problem,
    but only 26.2 utilized on-campus services and
    10.5 used off-campus services.

8
(No Transcript)
9
Mental Health Need by School Group
  • Students in Professional, Social Science,
    Humanities, and Other schools had proportionately
    higher reports of emotional or stress-related
    problems.
  • Students in Social Science and Humanities schools
    had proportionately higher reports of emotional
    or stress-related problems in colleagues.

10
Suicide Attempts
  • Eighteen students responded that they had
    attempted suicide in the past 12 months.

11
Percent of Students Expressing the Following
Emotions Frequently or All the Time by Gender
12
Regression Results for Depression Index Scores
  • Being a female graduate student, ratings of
    competitiveness within a program, and the number
    of semesters spent in school were negatively
    related to emotional well-being.
  • Financial confidence, better relationships with
    advisors, and being married were positively
    related to emotional well-being.

13
Knowledge of CPS Services
  • 25.9 of graduate students responded that they
    were not aware of counseling services available
    at CPS.
  • Of the graduate students who were aware of CPS
    services, most had found information via the UHS
    website, through orientation information, or UHS
    flyers

14
Departmental Climate
15
Background
  • Importance of mentoring in graduate study
  • Re-assessment of advisory system at universities
    after high-profile suicides of graduate students
  • High levels of stress in graduate students
  • Ambiguity of expectations
  • Job opportunities after completion of studies
  • Financial stress
  • Gender differences

16
Survey Questions on Departmental Climate
  • Advisor Index
  • My advisor discusses the strengths and weaknesses
    of my research/coursework.
  • My advisor encourages my intellectual
    self-confidence.
  • My advisor is satisfied with my performance.
  • My advisor facilitates cooperation with other
    faculty members, post-docs, and other research
    collaborators.
  • My advisor makes me aware of current job
    opportunities in my field.
  • My advisor is considerate of my personal
    problems.
  • My advisor directs me to funding sources to
    support my graduate education.

17
Advisor index ratings are significantly different
between Humanities and Social Science
respondents, F(4, 1500)3.02, plt.05, but not
different between other school groups.
18
Departmental Climate Results
  • Humanities students reported significantly higher
    satisfaction ratings with their advisors and with
    other administrative staff than students in
    Science, Professional, or Social Science schools.
  • Students in the Humanities reported significantly
    higher satisfaction with other faculty members in
    their departments than students in the Sciences
    and significantly higher than students in the
    Social Science and Professional schools.

19
Departmental Climate Results
  • Students in the Sciences reported significantly
    higher satisfaction with overall support from
    their department than students in Professional or
    Social Science schools.
  • Students in Other schools reported significantly
    higher satisfaction with administrative staff
    than students in the Sciences or Professional
    schools.

20
Self-Reported Financial Status
21
Financial Status by School Groups
  • More students in the Sciences were confident
    about having sufficient funds to complete their
    studies compared to students in all other school
    groups, ?2(8,N3042)129.09, plt.01.

22
Departmental Climate by Gender
  • Male students had significantly higher advisor
    index scores, although advisor satisfaction
    ratings were not significantly different.
  • Male students reported significantly higher
    satisfaction with other faculty in the department
    and overall support from the department.
  • Male students reported significantly higher
    agreement with statements My advisor facilitates
    cooperation with others and My advisor directs
    me to sources of funding.

23
Frequency of Advisor Meetings by Gender
24
Frequency of Advisor Meetings by Gender
  • Men are more likely than females to report
    meeting with their advisors once a week or more.
  • 34.5 of female graduate students report that
    they do not meet frequently enough with their
    advisors.
  • Compared to 28.8 of male graduate students.

25
International Students
26
International Students
  • About 1800 international graduate students
    enrolled (Spring 2004)
  • Counseling and outreach sensitivities
  • Social support networks
  • Cultural stigmas
  • Language barriers
  • Knowledge of services

27
International Students- Mental Health Needs
  • Forty-four percent (44) of international
    students reported significant emotional or
    stress-related problems in the last 12 months.
  • No significant difference between domestic and
    international students (?2(1,N3021)0.64,
    p0.43)
  • Fewer international students report knowing
    another UC graduate student with significant
    emotional or stress-related problems in the last
    12 months.
  • International students had lower mean depression
    index scores.

28
International Students-Suicide Attempts
  • Six international students reported attempting
    suicide within the last 12 months.
  • Only two of those reported using CPS services or
    off campus services.
  • Compared to 8 out of 11 for domestic students.

29
International Students- Service Knowledge and
Utilization
  • Only 61 of international students reported that
    they knew that UC Berkeley had counseling
    services available to all students.
  • Compared to 79 of domestic students
    (?2(1,N3025)75.41, plt.01)

30
International Students- Service Knowledge and
Utilization
  • While 33 of international students said they had
    thought about using counseling services in the
    last 12 months, only 14 reported using CPS
    services and 5 reported using off-campus
    services.

31
Problem Presentation
32
International Students-Financial Status
  • International students had proportionally higher
    presentation for problems related to financial
    issues than domestic students.

33
Summary of Findings
  • Graduate students present with unique concerns
    regarding personal, relationship, academic,
    financial, and career issues.
  • Almost half of all graduate students had
    experienced an emotional or stress-related
    problem that significantly affected their
    well-being and/or academic performance.

34
Summary of Findings
  • Female graduate students report significantly
    greater frequency of feelings of hopelessness,
    exhaustion, depressed, sadness, and being
    overwhelmed than male graduate students.
  • Frequency of considering suicide are not
    significantly different between men and women.
  • Female graduate students report lower overall
    support from their departments.

35
Summary of Findings
  • Almost one-quarter of graduate students in our
    sample were unaware of CPS services on-campus
    higher unawareness among international students.
  • Prevalence of depression similar between
    international and domestic students.
  • International students are more likely to seek
    counseling services for problems related to
    finances than domestic students.

36
Future Directions
  • More accurate measures of suicides and suicide
    attempts, as well as inter-disciplinary approach
    to suicide prevention
  • Increase awareness of mental health issues and
    how to access services.
  • GA Mental Health Task Force awareness campaign
  • Continue UHS/CPS publicity programs
  • Educate Faculty
  • Evaluate department/program responsibilities for
    providing adequate funding and support for
    students
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