Psychological quality of life and employability skills among newly registered first-year students: Opportunities for further university development

Michèle Baumann,Nearkasen Chau,Senad Karavdic

doi:10.4236/health.2013.53a082

Abstract

In accord with new European university reforms initiated by the Bologna Process, our objective was to evaluate influences on the relationship between psychological quality of life (QoL) and the acquisition of academic employability skills (AES) among first-year students at the University in Luxembourg. At the beginning (2 months in) and the end (9 months) of the academic year, 973 newly registered students participated in this study involving two cross-university surveys. Students who redoubled or who had studied at other universities were excluded. Data were collected with an online questionnaire comprising the psychological Whoqol-bref subscale, AES scale, and questions about other related factors. The AES score decreased from 74.2 to 65.6. At both time points, the psychological Whoqol-bref was positively correlated with environmental and social relations QoL and perceived general health. Multiple regression models including interaction terms showed that a higher psychological QoL was associated with better general health (difference satisfied-dissatisfied 9.44), AES (slope 0.099), social relationships QoL (0.321), and environmental QoL (0.298). No interaction with time effects was significant, which indicates that the effects remain stable with time. If the university could maintain the QoL indicators at appropriate levels or manage decreases as they occur, it would have implications for health promotion and the creation of new student support systems. The SQA- LES project provides valuable information for universities aiming to develop a European Higher Educational Area.

Highlights

In the European Union, quality of life (QoL) is a high social and public health policy priority that reflects wider public concerns [1]
Some recent investigations into student QoL have been conducted with the short version of the WHOQOL scale (Whoqol-bref, 26 items) [6], including the use of various domains among medical students from Australia [9], nursing students from Brazil [10], other students from Brazil [11], health service students from Turkey [12], and social sciences students from Brazil [13]
We focused on psychological QoL, a domain of the Whoqol-bref; we could find no studies in the scientific literature using this widely applied subscale as a dependent variable

Summary

Introduction

In the European Union, quality of life (QoL) is a high social and public health policy priority that reflects wider public concerns [1]. The past decade has seen a expansion in the numbers of students in further and higher education With this growth has come increasing recognition of mental health problems in the student population and calls for better integration of educational and health care [4]. Some recent investigations into student QoL have been conducted with the short version of the WHOQOL scale (Whoqol-bref, 26 items) [6], including the use of various domains among medical students from Australia [9], nursing students from Brazil [10], other students from Brazil [11], health service students from Turkey [12], and social sciences students from Brazil [13]. A few studies have examined the links between QoL glob-

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