Qualitative Pilot Interventions for the Enhancement of Mental Health Support in Doctoral Students

Doctoral degrees include Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and other professional doctorates such as Engineering Doctorate (EngD), Doctor of Education (EdD) or Doctor of Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy). Unlike undergraduate or postgraduate taught students, doctoral students focus upon a single, autonomous piece of research. Research indicates a high occurrence of mental health problems, mental distress, and symptoms of anxiety or depression in doctoral students. Additionally, there is concern that they may be less likely to disclose existing mental health problems or access support services than undergraduate or postgraduate taught students. This entry explores the known factors that contribute to the mental health of doctoral students studying in the United Kingdom.

Doctoral (PhD) students experience high rates of mental health challenges, including high rates of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and isolation. While universities offer mental health services, these may not fully address the specific needs of doctoral students. Peer support has emerged as a promising adjunct to existing service provision, drawing on shared experiences to provide emotional and practical guidance. This study aimed to explore doctoral students’ perceptions of peer support, identifying their needs and preferences for a peer support programme tailored to the doctoral experience. Nineteen doctoral students were recruited from a university in the south of England and participated in focus groups or semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis yielded four overarching themes: (1) Barriers to seeking support; (2) Value of peer support for doctoral students; (3) Tailored peer support needs; and (4) Diversity and accessibility. Findings indicate that doctoral students value peer support as a flexible, informal space to share experiences and gain advice from those with similar backgrounds. However, they also emphasised the need for diverse representation among peer supporters, adaptable training to meet neurodiverse needs, and formal recognition of peer supporters’ contributions. Study findings suggest that universities should consider implementing tailored peer support programmes to address the specific challenges faced by doctoral students, incorporating flexibility, cultural sensitivity, and accessibility to create a supportive academic environment. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of such programs in improving doctoral students’ mental health and well-being.

The association between neighbourhood socioeconomic status and parental mental health in the first years after birth - Cross-sectional results from the SKKIPPI project.

Doctoral education in the United States forms a huge and diverse enterprise. Seen from the outside, American graduate education is often hailed as the "gold standard" to which other nations and academic institutions aspire. From the inside, however, doctoral education faces many challenges. This article provides some basic information concerning doctoral education in the United States and will focus attention on the challenges facing doctoral education. While some U.S. analysts would disagree, my basic perspective is that American graduate education in general and doctoral education in particular is largely successful and effective. The system of doctoral education as it has evolved in the United States over the past century and a half serves both the academic system and society reasonably well. Indeed, many of the problems facing doctoral education are engendered by the system's success. Some of the challenges facing doctoral education relate to broader societal forces while others are internal to the academic system. Doctoral education needs to be viewed alongside broader trends in American higher education, and especially graduate education.The doctorate, especially the Ph.D., is the pinnacle of a large and complex higher education system. This essay focuses mainly on the Ph.D. degree, the research-oriented doctorate, and not on the increasingly important professional doctorates such as the doctor of business administration (DBA), the doctor of law (JD), the doctor of education (Ed.D.), and others, although some attention will be paid to these degrees. Doctoral study also is related to graduate education generally-master's degrees in many fields including the traditional arts and sciences and in numerous professional fields (Conrad, Haworth, and Millar 1993). Postdoctoral study is also not considered in detail in this discussion, although in many fields in the physical and biomedical sciences a postdoctoral research appointment is increasingly considered part of research training and is quite common. Doctoral education cannot be separated from cither the American academic research enterprise or the arrangements for teaching large numbers of undergraduates in the larger research-oriented universities (Graham and Diamond 1997). Doctoral students, especially in the sciences, are an integral part of the research system. They provide the personnel at relatively low cost who do much of the research under the supervision of senior professors. The research grants provided by government agencies such as the National Science Foundation and many others, by private philanthropic foundations, and increasingly by corporations are the sources of funding for graduate assistants who work on research while studying for their doctorates. In many cases, dissertation topics relate to the funded research. This system of financial support for doctoral study and basic research works well for American higher education. It ensures financial support for students as well as faculty mentorship and supervision for them, and it ensures a steady source of labor for research projects. These research funds are awarded on a competitive basis, and as a result the bulk of financial support for doctoral students in the sciences goes to the prestigious research-oriented universities. Doctoral students in all disciplines, but especially in the social sciences and humanities, serve as teaching assistants and sometimes as lecturers for undergraduate courses. In return for modest stipends and tuition scholarships, doctoral students provide much of the teaching in large undergraduate courses. Typically, they work under the supervision of a senior professor and conduct discussion sections for students as well as helping with grading and evaluation. In some cases, advanced doctoral students independently teach courses. In the sciences, doctoral students may help with laboratory supervision. Funds for teaching assistants generally come directly from the university. …

SummaryBackgroundSleep difficulties might be a contributory causal factor in the occurrence of mental health problems. If this is true, improving sleep should benefit psychological health. We aimed to determine whether treating insomnia leads to a reduction in paranoia and hallucinations.MethodsWe did this single-blind, randomised controlled trial (OASIS) at 26 UK universities. University students with insomnia were randomly assigned (1:1) with simple randomisation to receive digital cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for insomnia or usual care, and the research team were masked to the treatment. Online assessments took place at weeks 0, 3, 10 (end of therapy), and 22. The primary outcome measures were for insomnia, paranoia, and hallucinatory experiences. We did intention-to-treat analyses. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN61272251.FindingsBetween March 5, 2015, and Feb 17, 2016, we randomly assigned 3755 participants to receive digital CBT for insomnia (n=1891) or usual practice (n=1864). Compared with usual practice, the sleep intervention at 10 weeks reduced insomnia (adjusted difference 4·78, 95% CI 4·29 to 5·26, Cohen's d=1·11; p<0·0001), paranoia (−2·22, −2·98 to −1·45, Cohen's d=0·19; p<0·0001), and hallucinations (−1·58, −1·98 to −1·18, Cohen's d=0·24; p<0·0001). Insomnia was a mediator of change in paranoia and hallucinations. No adverse events were reported.InterpretationTo our knowledge, this is the largest randomised controlled trial of a psychological intervention for a mental health problem. It provides strong evidence that insomnia is a causal factor in the occurrence of psychotic experiences and other mental health problems. Whether the results generalise beyond a student population requires testing. The treatment of disrupted sleep might require a higher priority in mental health provision.FundingWellcome Trust.

Aim/Purpose: Our study explores the factors contributing to the Imposter Phenomenon among doctoral students in the United States. Background: Many studies show that Imposter Phenomenon impacts women doctoral students and students from minority groups, especially if they are enrolled in Predominantly White Institutions. Our study focuses explicitly on contributing factors to the Imposter Phenomenon among doctoral students in the United States. The study also explored how Imposter Phenomenon is related to doctoral students’ academic goals and achievements. Methodology: We utilized a qualitative phenomenological research design and conducted semi-structured interviews (45-90 minutes) in person and via Zoom. This study was conducted at a public research university in mid-western United States. A total of 14 (3 male and 11 female) doctoral students participated in the study. These students self-identified as White (9), African American (1), South Asian (2), mixed race (1), and Latina (1). Of the 14 students, 4 were international, and 10 were domestic. These students were from various disciplines, such as Education, Economics, Anthropology, Biology, Plant Sciences, and Engineering. Contribution: The study contributes to the field of psychology and higher education and helps us better understand doctoral students’ conceptions and experiences of the Imposter Phenomenon. The study provides empirical support to some of the previous claims by researchers and provides new insights related to the Imposter Phenomenon. Findings: In our study, participants did not consider the Imposter Phenomenon merely a personal or internal feeling or mental condition as presented in previous studies. We found there are multiple layers of the issue, and sociocultural factors play a contributing role to the Imposter Phenomenon. In our study, we found that relations with family, siblings, peers, and faculty played a significant role in shaping our participants’ sense of self and impacted how they responded to challenges in their academic life. We also noted that institutional culture impacts doctoral students’ self-concept and academic performance. Female doctoral students mentioned institutional culture and prevalent sexism in STEM fields as contributing factors to the Imposter Phenomenon. Overall, gender, race, age, and mental health emerged as major contributing factors to the Imposter Phenomenon among doctoral students. Recommendations for Practitioners: We recommend that higher education institutions should help doctoral students, especially students from underrepresented groups, by providing social, emotional, and economic support. To mitigate the challenges of institutional sexism, racism, and ageism, higher education institutions should consider creating peer support groups and try to foster a healthy and supportive environment for doctoral students. These groups could build on ontological inquiries to bolster student resiliency and self-perception. Also, there is a dire need for easily accessible mental health services on campuses, especially for graduate students. Recommendation for Researchers: Doctoral students, if successful, can play a significant role in society’s future growth. However, doctoral completion rates are currently staggeringly low, and the degree program is long. The situation is exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This impacts doctoral students’ emotional, psychological, and economic well-being, and may affect their health and family relationships. Incomplete doctoral degrees can be costly for individuals and society. Higher education institutions must provide better mental health and economic support to help doctoral students succeed in their programs so they can positively contribute to society and the world. Impact on Society: Doctoral students, if successful, can play a significant role in society’s future growth. However, doctoral completion rates are currently staggeringly low, and the degree program is long. The situation is exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This impacts doctoral students’ emotional, psychological, and economic well-being, and may affect their health and family relationships. Incomplete doctoral degrees can be costly for individuals and society. Higher education institutions must provide better mental health and economic support to help doctoral students succeed in their programs so they can positively contribute to society and the world. Future Research: We plan to expand our study to better understand the Imposter Phenomenon among doctoral students from cross-cultural perspectives to see if the same factors exist there.

The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of mental health problems in adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) and the number of adults with ID receiving care at general mental health clinics. The Reiss Screen for Maladaptive Behaviour and the Psychopathology Inventory for Mentally Retarded Adults were used to investigate mental health problems in samples from two Swedish counties. Adults with ID receiving psychiatric care at general mental health clinics were investigated via the mental health services register in one county. The overall occurrence of mental health problems in adults with ID ranged from 34% to 64%. The most common mental health problems were aggressive, self-injurious behaviours, signs of depression, anxiety or adjustment problems. The occurrence of adults with ID among patients receiving out- or in-patient psychiatric care was approximately 1%. Between 70% and 90% of these persons had a mild level of ID. The overall occurrence of mental health problems was similar to reported overall figures in comparable studies conducted in the US, UK and Denmark. The number of adults with ID registered for out- or in-patient psychiatric care was low compared with the occurrence of mental health problems based on the screening results.

Aim/Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explore trends and motivations for doctoral students’ participation in domestic and international conferences. We draw on doctoral students’ perceptions and experiences from four contexts (USA, Scotland, England, Australia) to further explore variations across different global contexts. Background: There is increased recognition of the importance of conferences within doctoral education. Yet very little is known or understood about doctoral students’ participation and motivations for participating in conferences. Methodology: Our sample includes doctoral students from four institutions studying in a School of Education. We used an online survey and follow-up focus group interviews to investigate doctoral students’ perceptions and experiences of conferences. Contribution: There are few studies on doctoral students’ participation in conferences. This study contributes to the literature on doctoral students as it investigates the trends and rationale for doctoral students’ participation in national and international conferences. We highlight the importance of conferences as learning sites for doctoral students. Furthermore, our research highlights dissimilarities and ambiguities in the provision of support for doctoral students’ regarding what we describe as the social aspect of their researcher learning and development, in this case, in networking activities. Findings: Our findings show that a) at both the individual (doctoral students) and institutional level, there is an implicit understanding of the importance of networking and yet programs rarely formally require conference attendance; b) students’ motivations to attend conferences may be mediated by their career aspirations and supportive structures (i.e., funding); and c) conferences support doctoral students’ learning and confidence in future networking. Recommendations for Practitioners: Our recommendations to doctoral education training programs and/or supervisors are to explicitly discuss and promote networking and/or conference attendance, and to find ways to support students to engage in networking outside their immediate study environment. Recommendation for Researchers: Our recommendation to researchers is to further investigate the importance of networking behaviors and experiences on doctoral student training and/or career outcomes. Impact on Society: This research highlights the importance of recognizing the learning needs of doctoral students who are expected to work in a complex, globally connected society as part of the reality of higher education in the 21st century. Future Research: Results from the study could help inform a larger study on the trends and motivations of doctoral students’ networking across all disciplines.

Background: Doctoral students have much higher risk of anxiety or depression than general population. Doctoral students worldwide are facing varying degrees of mental health risks. Method: Based on the survey data of 6,812 doctoral students worldwide in Nature in 2019, Probit and Logit models are used to explore the correlation between the fit of doctoral education and training process and the mental health of doctoral students. Results: (1) The training environment fit of doctoral students has a significant positive impact on their mental health. (2) The academic profession fit of doctoral students has a significant positive impact on their mental health. (3) The organizational culture fit of doctoral students has a significant positive impact on their mental health. (4) The financial support fit of doctoral students has a significant positive impact on their mental health. Conclusion: The higher the degree of doctoral students' training environment fit, academic profession fit, organizational culture fit, and financial support fit, the lower the possibility of anxiety or depression among doctoral students. The current research results can help reveal extensive factors that affect the mental health of doctoral students, facilitate the planning and development of effective intervention measures by universities, improve the fit of the doctoral education and training process, improve the mental health of doctoral students, and boost academic excellence.

BACKGROUND Barriers to accessing mental health support are common experiences reported by university students. Digital tools can improve equitable access to the indicated level of support and provide actionable insight and recommendations. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the acceptability and effectiveness of a web-based self-guided mental health and well-being support platform (U-Flourish Platform) that was tailored specifically for university students. METHODS The i-spero® platform was adapted in partnership with students to provide evidence-based well-being plans, mental health symptom tracking, and automated alerts and recommendations based on self-report data from students. After providing informed consent, students registered to access the platform and completed baseline demographic information and weekly validated screening measures of anxiety (GAD), depression (PHQ), and well-being (SWEMWEBS) over 8 weeks. At 6 weeks, students completed a user-experience survey. Paired t-tests were used to compared symptom scores and chi-squared tests assessed changes in symptom screening status over the 8-week period. Unadjusted logistic regression was used to assess whether baseline demographic factors and symptom screening status were associated with user-experience outcomes. RESULTS The analyses included data from 404 consenting students. At 6-weeks, most students (75%) expressed satisfaction with the platform, felt it was easy to use and understand (85%), and found the platform helpful for supporting their mental health (58%). Adherence was relatively high (76%) and attrition was relatively low (26%) after 6 weeks but reduced substantively thereafter; associated with timing of the end of incentivized use and end of term examinations and assignments. Mean anxiety (1.55 vs. 2.19, p&lt;.0001; Cohen’s d=0.36), depression (0.94 vs. 1.36, P=.0001; Cohen’s d=0.33), and well-being (24.87 vs. 22.28, P&lt;.0001, Cohen’s d=0.34) scores were improved at 8-Weeks vs baseline, with the greatest positive effects for students who screened positive for anxiety (Cohen’s d=1.16) and depression (Cohen’s d=2.22) at baseline. There was no evidence of differences in user-experience across demographic factors (i.e. gender, international student status, and lifetime history of a mental disorder) or baseline screening status, except for males who had lower odds (OR=0.40, 95% CI: 0.18-0.90) of finding the platform easy to use compared to female students. Of the 404 student-users, 142 created at least one well-being plan, with 75% and 57% of them being endorsed as helpful and being satisfactory in the support they provided, respectively. Most students reported satisfaction with the Platform (75%), it being easy to use (85%), and it having a positive impact on their mental health (58%). CONCLUSIONS Evidence supports that a self-guided digital well-being and mental health support platform is an acceptable and useful resource for university students. Therefore, student-tailored digital tools should be considered as part of an integrated and comprehensive whole-university approach for student well-being and mental health support.

The impact of a professional doctorate on students and their organizations has become a recent topic of interest to researchers, however, there has been debate regarding the impact of a professional on his or her organization and whether this represents the straightforward manifestation of professional learning. As a doctoral student enrolled in the educational doctoral programme (EdD) offered by the University of Liverpool and a lecturer at one of the Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts (UAS) in Western Switzerland, I wanted to explore how the learning that occurs within such a programme can enhance organizational change. Consequently, this study investigated the interplay between agential and structural dimensions to develop causal explanations of how organizational change might – or might not – result from undertaking a Doctor of Education (EdD) programme based on the study of higher education. The critical realist paradigm offered a good basis to do this, grounded as it is in the stratified ontology of a layered reality contingent on context, people’s personal experience, and social structures. The study addressed the following research question: What are the mechanisms that influence the impact on a higher education professional’s organization through the learning that arises from undertaking a professional doctorate in higher education? This study has used a combination of grounded theory techniques with critical realist retroduction to explore causal explanation about mechanisms. Semi-directed interviews were conducted with 16 participants, five of whom were EdD students focused on the study of higher education offered by a UK university, and the remaining 11 participants were their work colleagues well placed to comment on organizational change. Data analysis identified individual meta-reflexivity as the key mechanism enhancing individual agency giving rise to professional concerns, in turn generating students’ projects that attempted to address these concerns. In terms of individual agency, transformational leadership was also identified as a key mechanism emerging from the sharing of professional concerns with work colleagues, thus fostering social relations between human agents. Another aspect of this mechanism was the emergence of social relations resulting from collective meta-reflexivity that engaged work colleagues with the students’ concerns, thereby leading to corporate agency. However, different expressions of collective reflexivity influenced how corporate agency unfolded, which in turn shaped the nature of organizational change. Indeed, the need to align human actions with existing social structures triggered countervailing mechanisms whose powers could either enable or constrain human actions and their capacity to impact on the student’s organization. Critical realism explicitly endorses the view that generative mechanisms will not always be triggered. The theory that ensued from this study is that doctoral learning needs to be conceived, not simply in relation to producing knowledge for one’s personal growth, but also in terms of mastering a discourse that crosses both research and professional practice and through one’s capacity to draw others into that discourse in an ecologically-relevant fashion. Keywords: corporate agency, critical realism, impact, knowledge economy, organizational morphogenesis, professional doctorate, reflexivity, social relations

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents a quantitative investigation of the organizational factors predicting the attrition of doctoral students’ experience of meaning and how meaningful experience and meaningless work affect doctoral students’ mental health and achievements. Background: Today’s academic environment subsumes neoliberal principles of individualism, instrumentality, and competition. Such an environment can harm doctoral students’ meaningful experience. Universities’ market-driven practices, indeed, can lower doctoral students’ motivation and affect their mental health. Methodology: In this paper, we referred to empirical knowledge to identify the ways through which today’s academia erodes doctoral students’ meaningful experiences. We hypothesized that environmental sources of meaning (e.g., coherence, significance, purpose, and belonging) become subsumed under neoliberal principles of individualism, instrumentality, and competition. Lower levels of sources of meaning directly predict the experience of meaningless work, which is linked to higher levels of anxiety, depression, and intention to quit among doctoral students. We conducted a cross-sectional study on a sample of N = 204 doctoral students who volunteered to participate by completing a survey with self-reported measures. We analyzed data collected via structural equation modelling to test the associations among the variables. Contribution: The present paper represents one an attempt attempts to investigate doctoral students’ experience as subsumed to market-driven principles of the neoliberal ideology. Findings: Results of structural equation modelling show that higher levels of anxiety and depression symptoms and intention to quit are associated with the lack of external supporting factors (i.e., PhD support), the perception of broad-based managerial practices as meaningless and instrumental, and a general sense of emptiness at work (i.e., meaningless work). Ultimately, doctoral students may strive to have a meaningful experience in today’s academic environment. The experience of meaningless work leads to the risk of mental illness symptoms and quitting intention. Recommendations for Practitioners: This study suggests to practitioners to improve doctoral students’ well-being with multilevel interventions approach as well as including academic stakeholders to have broader practical implications. Recommendation for Researchers: For researchers, it is suggested to focus on the managerial and organizational conditions of the academic environment that influence the basis of doctoral students’ experience of doing a PhD. Impact on Society: This study affords society the importance of prioritizing the academic environment by looking at the meaning in work through the intersection of meaningful experience and meaningless work for doctoral students’ mental health and achievement. Future Research: Future research can consider the role of factors contributing to doctoral students’ meaningful experience by probing doctoral programs to understand students’ mental health and achievement.

Aim/Purpose: Doctoral students’ experiences in PhD programs could be a journey of identity evolution. Existing research on doctoral students’ identities has typically been conducted by faculties. As the main character in the identity evolution process, it is critical to understand doctoral students’ interpretation of their own identities and identity development in PhD programs. The purpose of this paper is to examine how and what education doctoral students discovered when they used self-study and relevant qualitative methodologies (e.g., auto-ethnography) to investigate their identities and identity development through their own practices in PhD programs. Background: This research began as part of a larger project to synthesize studies on doctoral students’ identities. A cluster of articles was identified in which students were examining their experiences as developing individuals from the perspective of identities and identity development. In contrast to most of the previous research on doctoral education, this collection of articles was written by doctoral students as part of their academic and professional practice. Methodology: The larger qualitative systematic review (i.e., qualitative evidence synthesis) of doctoral students’ identity development began with database searches that were not restricted by year (e.g., PsycINFO, Education Research Complete, and Education Resources Information Center). Thirteen articles written by doctoral students discussing their identities and identity development in PhD programs were further identified from selected articles ranging from 2009 to 2021. These articles and their implications were analyzed using a qualitative research synthesis approach. Contribution: Although scholars have looked at doctoral students’ identities and identity development from various viewpoints, the current investigation deepens the understanding of this focus from doctoral students’ own perspectives. Doctoral students are trained investigators with research skills and mindsets. As novice researchers and educators, their open and honest reflections about their challenges, opportunities, and development are worthwhile to identify significant aspects of their identities and identity development in PhD programs. Findings: There are two dimensions to the findings: the Approach Dimension and the Content Dimension. The Approach Dimension is concerned with how doctoral students investigated their identities and identity development, whereas the Content Dimension is concerned with what they found. Findings in the Approach Dimension show that doctoral students applied the self-study inquiry approach or used the notion of self-study inquiry to interpret their identity and identity development. The self-study inquiry encompasses five main features, including (1) Self-Initiated and Focused, (2) Improvement-Aimed, (3) Collaborative/Interactive, (4) Reflective Data Collection, and (5) Exemplar-Based Validation. Doctoral students examined the five self-study features both directly and indirectly in their studies. The investigation revealed four major themes in the Content Dimension, including (1) Identity Development as a Dynamic Process, (2) Multiple Identities, (3) Learning Contexts, and (4) Socialization. Recommendations for Practitioners: The findings suggest that practitioners in PhD programs should be aware of the existence, process, and dynamics of identity evolution in doctoral programs. The best possible way for PhD program administrators, faculties, and advisors to support doctoral students’ growth and identity development is to incorporate doctoral students’ own insights into practice. Given the unprecedented influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the educational environment and the diversity of doctoral students, it is crucial to discover how doctoral students use structured research methods to reflect, learn, and self-support their identity development during their PhD programs. The self-study inquiry process would be a helpful and effective approach to support doctoral students’ advancement. For instance, PhD programs could create self-evaluation assignments or courses that incorporate both self-study and identity development concepts. Recommendation for Researchers: When studying doctoral students’ identity development, it is critical to emphasize the essence of identity, which is people’s perceptions of who they are. We recommend that researchers who study doctoral students could further integrate doctoral students’ insights about their own identity status (e.g., multiple identities) into research. Impact on Society: Successful completion of PhD programs is a critical foundation for doctoral students to serve society as expert researchers and educators. Support for the growth and development of doctoral students could facilitate the completion of their doctoral programs and strengthen their sense of agency through the lens of identity. Future Research: Future research could go beyond the field of education and expand to more disciplines to identify common and diverse factors influencing doctoral students’ identity and identity development across domains. Future research on the post-COVID-19 era and its implications for online programs must also be studied in connection with doctoral students’ identities and identity development.

BackgroundThe characteristics of nursing doctoral programs and the doctoral students’ experience have not been thoroughly investigated. Hence, this study aimed to describe the characteristics of nursing doctoral programs in East and South East Asian (ESEA) countries and regions from the views of doctoral program coordinators, and to explore the students’ experiences of and satisfaction with their doctoral nursing program.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted using two self-designed questionnaires, one focusing on PhD program coordinators and the other on doctoral students. Characteristics of the nursing doctoral programs focused on program characteristics, faculty characteristics, career pathways for graduates, and challenges for nursing doctoral education. Doctoral students’ assessment of study experiences included quality of supervision, doctoral training programs, intellectual/cultural climate of institutions, general facilities/support, and the overall study experience and satisfaction.ResultsIn the PhD coordinators survey, 46 institutions across nine ESEA countries and regions participated. More than half of nursing departments had academic members from other health science disciplines to supervise doctoral nursing students. The majority of graduates were holding academic or research positions in higher education institutions. Faculty shortages, delays in the completion of the program and inadequate financial support were commonly reported challenges for doctoral nursing education. In the students’ survey, 193 doctoral students participated. 88.3% of the students were satisfied with the supervision they received from their supervisors; however, 79% reported that their supervisors ‘pushed’ them to publish research papers. For doctoral training programs, 75.5% were satisfied with their curriculum; but around half reported that the teaching training components (55.9%) and mobility opportunities (54.2%) were not included in their programs. For overall satisfaction with the intellectual and cultural climate, the percentages were 76.1 and 68.1%, respectively. Only 66.7% of the students felt satisfied with the facilities provided by their universities and nursing institutions.ConclusionDoctoral nursing programs in most of the ESEA countries value the importance of both research and coursework. Doctoral nursing students generally hold positive experiences of their study. However, incorporating more teaching training components, providing more opportunities for international mobility, and making more effort to improve research-related facilities may further enhance the student experience. There is also a need to have international guidelines and standards for quality indicators of doctoral programs to maintain quality and find solutions to global challenges in nursing doctoral education.

Aim/Purpose: Although the high rates of stress and psychological distress in graduate students has been well-documented, Canadian samples are underrepresented in the extant literature. The present study explores prevalence rates of burnout and psychological distress in a sample of psychology master’s and doctoral students at a university in a large urban Canadian city, as well as factors relating to their well-being, social support and stress. Background: There are economic and productivity setbacks stemming from high stress and mental health challenges. Burnout and psychological distress of graduate students are associated with hindered academic progress, mental and physical health challenges, and reduced productivity. Further, emotionally exhausted doctoral students are at heightened risk for non-completion of their degrees. Methodology: Sixty-two psychology graduate students completed an online survey that assessed burnout, psychological distress (anxiety, depression, and stress symptoms), perceived social support, collegiate sense of community, financial strain, and rank-ordered nine domains of graduate school stressors. Contribution: The present paper contributes to the body of knowledge that graduate students residing in an urban Canadian city experience high rates of burnout and psychological distress. High levels of social support outside the academe were not protective factors in mitigating burnout. Findings: Participants reported high levels of perceived social support and sense of community. However, over half (60%) of respondents met criteria for burnout, and one in three students met criteria for problematic levels of stress, anxiety, and/or depression. In a rank ordering question, “thesis, dissertation or other research”, “classwork” and “finances” ranked in the top three most stressful aspects of graduate school for respondents. Recommendations for Practitioners: Graduate students experience unique stressors related to their mental health and well-being that differ from undergraduate students and young working professionals. Mental health practitioners may be better equipped to support graduate students with knowledge of these specific factors impacting mental health and well-being. Recommendation for Researchers: Based on these findings, four areas of recommendations for psychology graduate institutions and training programs are discussed. These recommendations highlight the need for change across systemic levels and call for integrative efforts to improve wellbeing for psychology graduate students. Impact on Society: Enhancement of doctoral student well-being could contribute to long-term benefits in academia and in higher education. Future Research: The study took place before the emergence of COVID-19, which has undoubtably impacted graduate students globally. Research on student experiences during this unprecedented time is needed, as are additional supports (e.g., virtual programming to reduce social isolation; contingency plans for data collection).