Minding many minds: An assessment of mental health and resilience among undergraduate and graduate students; a mixed methods exploratory study

Abstract

Objective/Participants

The American College Health Association (ACHA) found that 65.4% of Ontario (Canada) students feel overwhelming anxiety and 89.5% of students feel overwhelmed by all of their obligations. Thus, this study assessed the current state of full-time undergraduate (UGS) and graduate students’ (GS) mental health and resilience.

Methods

A total of 598-796 UGS and GS completed three questionnaires (BRS, MHI, and SF-36) and a demographic questionnaire, which were distributed campus-wide. Focus groups/individual interviews (n = 30) explored students’ mental health- and resilience-related experiences.

Results/Conclusions

Quantitatively, participants produced normal levels of resilience on the BRS, below-the-norm levels of anxiety on the MHI, and above-the-norm levels of physical functioning, but below-the-norm levels of six mental-health-related constructs on the SF-36. Qualitatively, GS and UGS felt physical activity (PA) benefited their mental health and resilience, and voiced the need for more counselors. Overall, participants’ mental health and resilience were similar to the population.

Keywords:

• : Graduate students
• mental health
• physical activity
• resilience
• undergraduate students

Acknowledgments

Dr. J. Kevin Shoemaker and the Smart, Healthy Campus Initiative; Francesco Colosimo, Arlene Fleischhauer, Monica Khoshaien, Jacqueline Kueper, Taylor Labadie, Dr. Chris Lee, Dr. Dan Lizotte, Brad Matushewski, Danielle Senior, & Katie Shillington

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of Canada and received approval from Western University's Health Sciences’ Research Ethics Board.

Notes

1 ♠ SD = standard deviation

Additional information

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.