Identifying Engineering Students’ Beliefs About Seeking Help for Mental Health Concerns

Courtney Janaye Wright; Lucy Elizabeth Hargis; Ellen L. Usher; Joseph H. Hammer; Sarah A. Wilson; Melanie E. Miller

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual Conference
Publication Date: July 26, 2021
Start Date: July 26, 2021
End Date: July 19, 2022
Conference Session: Special Topics: Conscious Considerations
Tagged Divisions: Equity and Culture & Social Justice in Education
Page Count: 17
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--37269
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/37269
Download Count: 1119

Lucy Hargis is a senior psychology major at the University of Kentucky. She is a research assistant in the P20 Motivation and Learning Lab, which conducts research related to the psychological aspects of teaching and learning.

visit author page

biography

Ellen L. Usher University of Kentucky

visit author page

Ellen L. Usher is a professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Kentucky. She received her Ph.D. in educational studies from Emory University in 2007. Her research has focused on the sources and effects of personal efficacy beliefs. She is the director of the P20 Motivation and Learning Lab.

visit author page

biography

Joseph H. Hammer University of Kentucky

visit author page

Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology

visit author page

biography

Sarah A. Wilson University of Kentucky

visit author page

Sarah Wilson is a lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Kentucky. She completed her bachelor’s degree at Rowan University in New Jersey before attending graduate school for her PhD at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA. Her research interests include engineering communication, process safety, and undergraduate student mental health. Recently, she was awarded an NSF RIEF grant to student mental health-related help-seeking in undergraduate engineering students. She is completing this project in collaboration with faculty members from educational and counseling psychology. With this work, they aim to better understand the help-seeking beliefs of undergraduate engineering students and develop interventions to improve mental health-related help-seeking. Other research interests include engineering communication and integration of process safety into a unit operations course.

visit author page

biography

Melanie E. Miller University of Kentucky

visit author page

Melanie Miller, M.S., (She/her/hers) is a Counseling Psychology Ph.D. student at the University of Kentucky.

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

National data show that engineering students with mental health problems are significantly less likely to seek professional help than their peers (Eisenberg et al., 2019). While treatment gaps exist for cisgender men, persons of color, and first-generation students in general, disparities are further pronounced in engineering. Interventions targeted at reshaping engineering identity to be supportive of mental health related help-seeking could increase success and retention of at-risk students. This qualitative research study aims to identify undergraduate engineering students’ beliefs about seeking help related to mental health distress. Students from across all engineering majors and years of study were invited to participate in a pre-screening survey that included questions related to prior mental health service utilization and psychological distress. Over 200 students completed the pre-screening survey. From these respondents, purposeful stratified sampling was implemented to solicit a diverse set of interviewees across major, year of study, gender, race/ethnicity, generational status as a college student, and nationality. The final sample invited to participate in the qualitative study included 30 engineering students with and without prior experience with mental health related help-seeking. Through May of 2021, the research team will conduct hour-long semi-structured interviews with 30 participants to understand the key beliefs that engineering students hold about seeking help as it relates to mental health. Interview questions will be grounded in the Integrated Behavioral Model, which recognizes six categories of beliefs that influence behavior. Additionally, students will be asked questions related to their engineering identity and how this has influenced their help-seeking beliefs and behavior. All interviews will be audio recorded, transcribed, and coded. Researchers will use thematic analysis to allow for comprehensive identification of emergent themes related to engineering students’ mental health help-seeking beliefs. Data analysis will be ongoing throughout the data collection process to allow for refinement of the interview protocol. The researchers will use the interview data to create a comprehensive list of beliefs related to engineering students’ decisions to seek help for a mental health concern. The team will use the information to develop a survey instrument that can be used to assess help-seeking beliefs among a broader sample of engineering students. Large-scale implementation of this instrument will allow for identification of beliefs that predict help-seeking behavior. These findings will then be used to develop targeted interventions to improve mental health help-seeking in undergraduate engineering students. References Eisenberg, D., Lipson, S. K., Ceglarek, P., Phillips, M., Zhou, S., Morigney, J., Talaski, A., & Steverson, S. (2019). The Healthy Minds Study: 2018-2019 Data Report.

Citation
Format

Wright, C. J., & Hargis, L. E., & Usher, E. L., & Hammer, J. H., & Wilson, S. A., & Miller, M. E. (2021, July), Identifying Engineering Students’ Beliefs About Seeking Help for Mental Health Concerns Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37269

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - National data show that engineering students with mental health problems are significantly less likely to seek professional help than their peers (Eisenberg et al., 2019). While treatment gaps exist for cisgender men, persons of color, and first-generation students in general, disparities are further pronounced in engineering. Interventions targeted at reshaping engineering identity to be supportive of mental health related help-seeking could increase success and retention of at-risk students. This qualitative research study aims to identify undergraduate engineering students’ beliefs about seeking help related to mental health distress. Students from across all engineering majors and years of study were invited to participate in a pre-screening survey that included questions related to prior mental health service utilization and psychological distress. Over 200 students completed the pre-screening survey. From these respondents, purposeful stratified sampling was implemented to solicit a diverse set of interviewees across major, year of study, gender, race/ethnicity, generational status as a college student, and nationality. The final sample invited to participate in the qualitative study included 30 engineering students with and without prior experience with mental health related help-seeking.  
 
Through May of 2021, the research team will conduct hour-long semi-structured interviews with 30 participants to understand the key beliefs that engineering students hold about seeking help as it relates to mental health. Interview questions will be grounded in the Integrated Behavioral Model, which recognizes six categories of beliefs that influence behavior. Additionally, students will be asked questions related to their engineering identity and how this has influenced their help-seeking beliefs and behavior. All interviews will be audio recorded, transcribed, and coded. Researchers will use thematic analysis to allow for comprehensive identification of emergent themes related to engineering students’ mental health help-seeking beliefs. Data analysis will be ongoing throughout the data collection process to allow for refinement of the interview protocol. The researchers will use the interview data to create a comprehensive list of beliefs related to engineering students’ decisions to seek help for a mental health concern. The team will use the information to develop a survey instrument that can be used to assess help-seeking beliefs among a broader sample of engineering students. Large-scale implementation of this instrument will allow for identification of beliefs that predict help-seeking behavior. These findings  will then be used to develop targeted interventions to improve mental health help-seeking in undergraduate engineering students. 
 
References 
Eisenberg, D., Lipson, S. K., Ceglarek, P., Phillips, M., Zhou, S., Morigney, J., Talaski, A., &amp;amp; Steverson, S. (2019). The Healthy Minds Study: 2018-2019 Data Report. 

AU  - Courtney Janaye Wright
AU  - Lucy Elizabeth Hargis
AU  - Ellen  L. Usher
AU  - Joseph H. Hammer
AU  - Sarah A. Wilson
AU  - Melanie E. Miller
CY  - Virtual Conference
DA  - 2021/07/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Identifying Engineering Students’ Beliefs About Seeking Help for Mental Health Concerns
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/37269
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--37269
ER  -