Graduate Student Mental Health Survey

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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
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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)

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Graduate Student Mental Health Survey

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

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School Groupings
() Percent representation in sample Other (2.1)
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Graduate Student Mental Health Need
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Mental Health NeedPercentage of Students
Expressing the Following Emotions Frequently or
All the Time
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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.

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(No Transcript)
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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.

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Suicide Attempts

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

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Percent of Students Expressing the Following
Emotions Frequently or All the Time by Gender
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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.

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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

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Departmental Climate
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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

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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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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Self-Reported Financial Status
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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.

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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.

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Frequency of Advisor Meetings by Gender
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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.

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International Students
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International Students

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

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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.

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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.

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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)

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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.

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Problem Presentation
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International Students-Financial Status

• International students had proportionally higher
  presentation for problems related to financial
  issues than domestic students.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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