The wellbeing implications of thinking about schoolwork during leisure time: a qualitative analysis of Canadian university students’ psychological detachment experiences

ABSTRACT

It has been well established that psychological detachment from work (i.e., mentally separating oneself from work) during leisure time is critical in promoting employees’ work performance and subjective wellbeing. This employee-focused literature presents an opportunity to extend the exploration of the salubrious experience of psychological detachment to university students. Using a qualitative design, we examined students’ perceptions of their leisure time experiences. Over the course of four focus groups, we asked 25 students from a medium-sized public Canadian university to describe how they spend their leisure time, to what extent they think about or engage in schoolwork during leisure, and how their various leisure activities impact their wellbeing and academic performance. All focus groups were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded for patterns relating to these research questions. Our thematic analysis revealed that psychological detachment is applicable to university students; we present five themes that exemplify students’ experiences with and perceived importance of psychological detachment, with implications for promoting students’ wellbeing and academic performance that have been unaddressed in the psychological detachment research to date. Practically, the results provide preliminary insight into how and under what conditions psychological detachment can help students gain the most value from their leisure time.

KEYWORDS:

• University students
• subjective wellbeing
• academic performance
• psychological detachment
• leisure activities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Compliance of ethical standard statement

The University of Guelph’s Research Ethics Board (REB) approved the study on 18 March 2016 (REB # 16JA036). All data were collected at the University of Guelph, Canada.

Informed consent

All data have been anonymized.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Denisa Luta

Denisa Luta is a PhD Candidate at the University of Guelph in Dr. Jeffrey Spence’s Work Performance Lab. She holds an MA from the University of Guelph. Her research interests include recovery from stress and the role of death in high mortality reminder occupations. Her research has appeared in peer-reviewed publications such as the International of Journal of Selection & Assessment and Research on Emotions in Organizations. She has presented at numerous international conferences, including the Academy of Management and the Society for International Organizational Psychologists. She has also taught at Ryerson University and worked as Organizational Psychology Consultant where she has assisted clients with performance assessment and training and development.

Ekaterina Pogrebtsova

Ekaterina Pogrebtsova is an Organizational Psychology Consultant and PhD Candidate at the University of Guelph in Dr. M. Gloria Gonzalez-Morales’ Positive Psychology and Occupational Health Lab. In her research, Ekaterina focuses on rich data exploration using qualitative and longitudinal methods to produce meaningful insights for health and wellbeing promotion in organisations, communities, and schools. Ekaterina’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Stress & Health, the International Journal of Selection & Assessment, and Prevention Science, and presented at top international conferences such as the Academy of Management and the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology. As a consultant and speaker, Ekaterina has delivered a host of successful evidence-based workshops and solutions to Canadian organisations, schools, and Universities to promote work engagement, performance, and wellbeing.

Yannick Provencher

Yannick Provencher is a consultant for Organization & Management Solutions (OMS), a graduate student in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and a member of the Positive Psychology and Occupational Health Lab at the University of Guelph. He is an advocate of using strong methodologies in order to make significant research contributions and promote health and psychological wellbeing in various contexts including (e.g., work and school). He presented his research at various conferences, including the Canadian Psychological Association, the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and the International Congress of Applied Psychology. Additionally, he has extensive knowledge in developing and conducting meta-analyses, which allowed him to publish in the journal of psychoneuroendocrinology. In his consulting job, Yannick has worked on several projects, including the implementation of a strategic workforce planning and the design and analysis of an engagement survey.