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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

EV0712

Mental Health and Well-Being of Post-Baccalaureate Students at Research-Intensive Institutions in North America

MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING IN POST-BACCALAUREATE STUDENTS AT RESEARCH-INTENSIVE INSTITUTIONS IN NORTH AMERICA

At research-intensive institutions, 51% of post-baccalaureate students rated their overall mental health as fair or worse, and the vast majority of students found their coursework and research workload at least somewhat stressful.

The study aims to describe the mental health and well-being of post-baccalaureate students at research-intensive institutions in North America. The data source is the gradSERU survey, first launched in 2017, which covers selection and admissions, financial support, advising, teaching and research experience, program climate, career plans, student well-being, barriers to graduation, and overall satisfaction; 15 research-intensive universities participated, and not all institutions administered the optional survey items and modules. Overall participation ranged from 20,000 to 30,000 post-baccalaureate students, but fewer than 10,000 responses were obtained for the well-being module; this preliminary analysis examined endorsement rates for items on mental health, workload stress management, various dimensions of well-being, stress related to the graduate student experience, and stress associated with bias and personal safety. Overall mental health was rated as very poor by 3.7%, poor by 12.9%, fair by 34.2%, good by 34.7%, and very good by 14.4%, with 51% of respondents reporting fair or worse mental health. The vast majority of students found coursework and research at least somewhat stressful; interactions with advisors, interactions with students, and program climate were rated as less stressful than other dimensions, while maintaining high academic standards, graduating on time, and career prospects were rated as more stressful. For the stress items concerning bias, discrimination, and unfairness, and those concerning personal safety, 49.9% and 55.8% of respondents, respectively, answered “not at all stressful,” while a substantial but smaller proportion reported varying degrees of bias and threats to personal safety. The author notes that factors associated with better mental health, such as physical health, emotional well-being, coping with stress, nighttime sleep, a balanced diet, and 150 minutes of exercise, were rated as fair or worse by a considerable proportion of respondents, that these areas could benefit from interventions, and that predictors of more stressful experiences should be examined in further research.

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