Can academic writing retreats function as wellbeing interventions?

ABSTRACT

Research and academic writing are increasingly difficult to prioritise in Higher Education. Academic writing retreats are growing in popularity as means to help academics to write. However, while they have been shown to enhance productivity their potential as wellbeing interventions has received less attention. We explore the experiences of UK-based academic participants in a structured writing programme through a structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews. Our findings suggest that writing retreats can positively impact on both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. They may help mediate wellbeing threats, such as isolation, the conflict of work priorities and other pressures associated with academic research and time pressures. The opportunity to privilege writing provided our academic participants with positive benefits, yet we conclude that these effects do not endure if interventions are not maintained.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic wellbeing
• writing retreat
• community of coping
• stress
• academic writing
• academic identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The REF is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions, undertaken by the UK Higher education funding bodies.

2. For each Participant (P) we indicate whether it is interview (I) or questionnaire (Q) data, hence P4:I, refers to participant 4, interview data.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alison F. Eardley

Alison F. Eardley is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Westminster. Her research has explored the role of non-visual processing in blind and sighted people in attention, memory, imagery and spatial processing. Her current work examines the impact of a museum visit, and in particular, the ways in which multisensory design might enhance the experience for visitors to museums, with and without specific access needs, and the impact on wellbeing. She is also a trained writing retreat facilitator, and has set up the writing retreat programme at the University of Westminster. She has also run writing retreats for other Universities.

Emma Banister

Emma Banister is a Senior Lecturer in Consumer Research at University of Manchester and a member of the Work and Equalities Institute. Her research is mainly focused around issues of identity and consumer culture in relation to a number of contexts including music, alcohol and parenting. Her current research explores fatherhood in relation to the Shared Parental Leave policy in the UK, seeking to explore the impact of policy change on cultures of parenting. Her work has been published in a number of journals including Sociological Review, Sociology of Health & Illness, Marketing Theory, Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing, Consumption Markets and Culture and Journal of Marketing Management. Emma is also a trained writing retreat facilitator.

Marie Fletcher

Dr Marie Fletcher is a Senior Lecturer and the subject leader in Accounting, Finance and Law where she is responsible for over twenty members of staff. She is a chartered accountant who specialises in Taxation, obtaining her PhD in the history and impact of Estate Duty, the forerunner to Inheritance Tax. She is a trained writing retreat facilitator and offers writing opportunities to both staff and students alike. Her main research interests lie in business history, taxation, fiscal policy and the potential positive impact of writing retreats in academia.