Navigating Stress, Support and Supervision: A Qualitative Study of Doctoral Student Wellbeing in Norwegian Academia

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Aim/Purpose: This study addresses the need to understand the wellbeing of doctoral students and the factors influencing their academic trajectory. Background: Doctoral students’ wellbeing is crucial for their academic success and overall quality of life. This study explores the antecedent variables influencing doctoral students’ wellbeing, complementing the Integrative Model on well-being in doctoral students. Methodology: A qualitative case study approach was employed, involving in-depth interviews with 10 PhD students at a Norwegian university. Following the Integrative Model on doctoral students’ wellbeing, the study combined thematic and discourse analysis to examine students’ experiences and perceptions. Contribution: This research provides insights into doctoral students’ experiences, feelings, and perceptions during their thesis process, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of factors influencing their well-being. Findings: The results reveal that working conditions, particularly remunerated positions, significantly impact students’ experiences. Common feelings include uncertainty, fear of failure, and stress, especially during writing. Stress and anxiety are prevalent, though often normalized. While loneliness is common, students generally report support from supervisors, peers, and family. Supervisors emerge as the primary source of support, with their relationship style greatly influencing student wellbeing. Recommendations for Practitioners: Based on these findings and existing literature, the study proposes measures to enhance doctoral student well-being, including creating spaces for student interaction, implementing funding policies, offering mental health support, designing skill-building workshops, establishing mentoring programs, and providing supervisor training. Recommendation for Researchers: Explore supervisory styles and their impact on student well-being in diverse academic contexts. Investigate the impact of supervisors’ availability, time dedication, and communication patterns on doctoral supervision. Future research should examine supervisors’ perspectives and investigate these relationships across different international settings using quantitative methodologies with larger samples to enhance generalizability. Impact on Society: This research contributes to a deeper understanding of doctoral student experiences and offers a foundation for developing targeted interventions to support this population. Improving doctoral student well-being can lead to higher quality research outputs and more successful completion rates, benefiting academia and society. Future Research: Quantitative studies with larger, more diverse samples from international contexts could further validate and expand upon these findings. Additional research could focus on the effectiveness of different supervisory styles and examine how institutional structures influence doctoral student wellbeing across various academic contexts.