Full Paper: Impacts of a Wellness-Focused First-Year Course on Student Retention and Academic Success

Matthew Cavalli; Anetra Grice

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Conference: 15th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience Conference (FYEE)
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Publication Date: July 28, 2024
Start Date: July 28, 2024
End Date: July 30, 2024
Page Count: 7
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--48601
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/48601
Download Count: 35

Paper Authors

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Matthew Cavalli Western Michigan University

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Dr. Cavalli is Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

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Anetra Grice Western Michigan University

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Anetra Grice is has served as the STEP Program Director for Western Michigan University's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences for since 2010.

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Abstract

Particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, an increasing amount of focus has been placed on concepts like student mental health and holistic wellness when discussing academic success in higher education. Across all student demographics, backgrounds, and majors – including engineering – researchers have explored potential links between aspects of wellness and outcomes like retention and graduation. At [University], a wellness-focused first-year course has been expanded to be available for all incoming students in [College]. This paper explores students’ perceived wellness and academic outcomes for those who are enrolled in the class and those who are not.

[University] has adopted the eight dimensions of wellness model as the basis for both wellness-focused courses and other student success-focused programming. Starting in Fall 2023, a three-credit, wellness-focused course, [Course] was offered to all new students in the college. [College] uses cohort scheduling for incoming first-year students, and most students will now take [Course]. However, about half of the new students will take the course in their first fall semester and half will take it in their first spring (second college) semester. For both enrolled and non-enrolled students, perceived wellness will be measured using questions from the Perceived Wellness Model (PWM – Adams et al. 1997, 2000) and the Interpersonal, Community, Occupational, Physical, Psychological, and Economic instrument (ICOPPE - Prilleltensky et al. 2015, Esposito et al. 2022). Neither the PWM nor the ICOPPE alone captures the full breadth of the eight dimensions of wellness model. While the instruments use different approaches to defining and measuring a respondent’s perceived wellness, together they allow the range of eight dimensions of wellness to potentially be quantified.

Questions from the Perceived Wellness Survey (Adams et al., 1997, Adams, 2022) and the ICOPPE wellness scale (Prilleltensky et al., 2015) were used to create two electronic surveys in Qualtrics, one administered at the start of the Fall 2023 semester and one at the end. Additional questions related to student mindset (Yeager and Dweck, 2012) and self-efficacy were added to the surveys. All new students (first-time-in-any-college and transfer) in the [College] were invited to participate in both surveys. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) will be used to explore correlations between survey responses and academic outcomes (first semester GPA and retention to second semester). Additionally, changes in survey responses for students completing both surveys will be analyzed. Correlations for students enrolled in the wellness course or not enrolled will be compared.

Based on prior research, self-efficacy is expected to be correlated to both first semester GPA and retention to the second semester. Students enrolled in the wellness course during the fall semester are expected to demonstrate larger gains in both measures of wellness (Perceived Wellness Survey and ICOPPE) compared to non-enrolled students. Results from the second survey administration (end-of-fall semester) are expected to be more strongly correlated to positive academic outcomes compared to the start-of-semester data.

Citation
Format

Cavalli, M., & Grice, A. (2024, July), Full Paper: Impacts of a Wellness-Focused First-Year Course on Student Retention and Academic Success Paper presented at 15th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience Conference (FYEE), Boston, Massachusetts. 10.18260/1-2--48601

TY - CPAPER
AB - Particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, an increasing amount of focus has been placed on concepts like student mental health and holistic wellness when discussing academic success in higher education. Across all student demographics, backgrounds, and majors – including engineering – researchers have explored potential links between aspects of wellness and outcomes like retention and graduation. At [University], a wellness-focused first-year course has been expanded to be available for all incoming students in [College]. This paper explores students’ perceived wellness and academic outcomes for those who are enrolled in the class and those who are not.

[University] has adopted the eight dimensions of wellness model as the basis for both wellness-focused courses and other student success-focused programming. Starting in Fall 2023, a three-credit, wellness-focused course, [Course] was offered to all new students in the college. [College] uses cohort scheduling for incoming first-year students, and most students will now take [Course]. However, about half of the new students will take the course in their first fall semester and half will take it in their first spring (second college) semester. For both enrolled and non-enrolled students, perceived wellness will be measured using questions from the Perceived Wellness Model (PWM – Adams et al. 1997, 2000) and the Interpersonal, Community, Occupational, Physical, Psychological, and Economic instrument (ICOPPE - Prilleltensky et al. 2015, Esposito et al. 2022). Neither the PWM nor the ICOPPE alone captures the full breadth of the eight dimensions of wellness model. While the instruments use different approaches to defining and measuring a respondent’s perceived wellness, together they allow the range of eight dimensions of wellness to potentially be quantified.

Questions from the Perceived Wellness Survey (Adams et al., 1997, Adams, 2022) and the ICOPPE wellness scale (Prilleltensky et al., 2015) were used to create two electronic surveys in Qualtrics, one administered at the start of the Fall 2023 semester and one at the end. Additional questions related to student mindset (Yeager and Dweck, 2012) and self-efficacy were added to the surveys. All new students (first-time-in-any-college and transfer) in the [College] were invited to participate in both surveys. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) will be used to explore correlations between survey responses and academic outcomes (first semester GPA and retention to second semester). Additionally, changes in survey responses for students completing both surveys will be analyzed. Correlations for students enrolled in the wellness course or not enrolled will be compared.

Based on prior research, self-efficacy is expected to be correlated to both first semester GPA and retention to the second semester. Students enrolled in the wellness course during the fall semester are expected to demonstrate larger gains in both measures of wellness (Perceived Wellness Survey and ICOPPE) compared to non-enrolled students. Results from the second survey administration (end-of-fall semester) are expected to be more strongly correlated to positive academic outcomes compared to the start-of-semester data.

AU - Matthew Cavalli
AU - Anetra Grice
CY - Boston, Massachusetts
DA - 2024/07/28
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Full Paper: Impacts of a Wellness-Focused First-Year Course on Student Retention and Academic Success
UR - https://peer.asee.org/48601
DO - 10.18260/1-2--48601
ER -