Search for: All records

This paper summarizes the results of our NSF funded longitudinal study on mental health in engineering education. Survey instruments were used to measure the prevalence of several mental health conditions in engineering students at 8 partner institutions as they progressed through their engineering programs. This data collection began in Fall 2019, shortly before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and continued into 2021. Our results, recapitulated here, provide a unique insight into the state of mental health in engineering education during “normal times,” how it changed and worsened during the early stages of the pandemic, and how and to what extent mental health has since recovered to pre-pandemic levels. 

This paper summarizes the results of our NSF funded longitudinal study on mental health in engineering education. Survey instruments were used to measure the prevalence of several mental health conditions in engineering students at 8 partner institutions as they progressed through their engineering programs. This data collection began in Fall 2019, shortly before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and continued into 2021. Our results, recapitulated here, provide a unique insight into the state of mental health in engineering education during “normal times,” how it changed and worsened during the early stages of the pandemic, and how and to what extent mental health has since recovered to pre-pandemic levels. 

The early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States caused unprecedented disruption to engineering students and society-at-large. Residential students suddenly found themselves forced off-campus and into a new regime of online learning. On top of this, students faced pandemic related uncertainty about their health and the health of their loved ones, restrictions on social life, and the privations of a stuttering economy. It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic the engineering student population saw large increases in incidences of depression and other psychological conditions. While COVID-19 continues to be a concern, many of the restrictions and precautions associated with the early outbreak have been relaxed. Most engineering programs are back to in person learning, and strict COVID-testing regimes, mask mandates, and limits on large public gatherings have been largely phased out. With academia and society slowly adjusting to this “new normal,” it is important to know whether and to what extent mental health of engineering students has changed over the course of the pandemic. This work explores this question by analyzing longitudinal data collected at four times from 2019-2021. We analyze how the prevalence of different conditions changed with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether they have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Among other results, we found statistically significant increases were observed in total depressive disorders between our initial sample (Fall 2019) and a sample taken immediately post-COVID (Spring 2020). While measured rates of depression decreased between Spring 2020 and Fall 2021, it was not statistically significant, potentially indicating that the student population is still recovering on this metric. Conversely our data shows a statistically significant drop in moderate-to-major psychological distress between our Fall 2019 pre-pandemic sampling and our Fall 2021 post-pandemic sampling indicating, potentially indicating an improvement in overall mental health. Breaking the data down by gender, no significant changes were observed across any measure during the four sample periods for women respondents. Men, however, showed a significant increase in depressive disorders from Fall 2019 to Spring 2020; and a significant decrease in depressive disorders from Spring 2020 to Fall 2021. 

Mental health issues have long posed a challenge on university campuses. While no population is immune, research has shown that students from marginalised backgrounds can have higher rates of mental health issues and suffer worse outcomes as a result. These discrepancies have been attributed to everything from different cultural norms to the micro-aggressions and other barriers that students from marginalised populations face on university campuses. With the onset of COVID-19 in the United States, many residential universities switched to a remote learning model, fundamentally changing the relationship between students, campus, family support. This work uses survey data from students in the United States to explore how COVID-19 affected mental health issues among students from different backgrounds. While the pandemic drastically increased rates of depressive disorder among all respondents, discrepancies between mental health rates for women and Hispanic/Latinx compared to men and White respondents either decreased or disappeared. Additionally, respondents identifying as Asians were less likely to screen positive for several mental health conditions than White, Non-Hispanic respondents. These findings may point to important new insights about the ways in which engineering education undermines some groups’ mental health. 

This research full paper presents screening rates for mental health issues and life-stress events in engineering-focused community college students during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Specifically, it attempts to answer the following research questions: 1) What is the overall rate of various mental health conditions among engineering-focused community college students, 2) What effects has the pandemic had on baseline stress levels engineering-focused community college, and 3) What effects has the pandemic had on quality of life, such as sleep habits and financial security of engineering- focused community college students? Data for this paper was collected via survey from May–July 2020 and includes responses from 84 students at 24 community colleges. The survey itself was a compilation of several widely- used instruments for measuring overall mental health and stress levels in a population. These instruments include the Kessler-6 for psychological distress, the PHQ for anxiety, depression, and eating disorders, the PC-PTSD for PTSD-like symptoms, and the SRRS for inventorying stressful life events. Among the major findings, 32% of respondents reported a major change in financial situation, 27% reported loss of employment, and 13% reported ceasing formal schooling because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, 32% of respondents reported that the COVID-19 pandemic worsened their housing security situation, 38% reported that COVID-19 has worsened their food security situation, and 36% report that COVID-19 has decreased their ability to access instruction, course materials, or course supplies. Finally, of respondents who completed at least one mental health screening instrument, 70% screened positive for at least one potentially diagnosable condition, while only 9% reported ever receiving a mental health diagnosis. Index Terms—Community College, Mental Health, Disability, Accessibility, Equity, Inclusion, Wellness 

Several recent studies have documented high rates of mental health struggles among engineering students [1]–[4]. To date, however, studies of mental health in engineering have been limited to primarily quantitative surveys. This paper advances the research landscape by presenting findings from an interview study with current and former engineering students. The interview data can help explain quantitative findings from previous studies and provide deeper insights into relationships between engineering culture and mental health. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen undergraduate students from five universities in four different states in the United States. Through the interviews, we identified seven specific features of engineering and engineering education that undermined students’ mental health. Furthermore, our analysis identifies not only what aspects of engineering education undermine mental health but also explains how they do so. While the interviews were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in fall of 2020, the experiences reported by students were primarily pre-pandemic experiences, and are not specific to pandemic conditions. In addition to elucidating the seven aspects presented in the Findings, one aim in identifying and discussing these features is to challenge tacit or taken-for-granted notions that these aspects of engineering education are given, necessary, unchangeable, or desirable. Shedding light on the ways in which the features identified in this paper impact students can help engineering educators, administrators, and other students critically reflect on how their role in perpetuating these characteristics affects students and the engineering education system as a whole. 

Contribution: Screening rates for engineering students for several major and moderate mental health issues are reported, including unspecified psychological distress as captured by the Kessler 6 screening instrument; screening rates for depressive, anxiety, and eating disorders as measured by the patient health questionnaire (PHQ); and screening rates for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as measured by the primary care post-traumatic stress disorder (PC-PTSD) instrument. This work also explores how mental health issues affect different student demographic groups within engineering. Background: Anecdotal evidence has long suggested that stress and certain mental health issues are particularly acute in the field of Engineering, and some recent research has shown elevated rates of mental health issues at different institutions around the country. This article presents the results of a previously validated mental health survey conducted with first- and second-year students at eight universities. Intended Outcomes: A better understanding of which mental health issues affect engineering students as a population, and an understanding of what mental health disparities exist among different demographics in engineering. This information is intended to allow engineering programs, student groups, and other stakeholders to better target mental health resources for all engineering students. Application Design: This work combines several widely used population-scale mental health diagnostic tools into a single comprehensive survey instrument that was deployed to first- and second-year engineering students at eight universities nationwide. Findings: This study finds that 50% of respondents screening positive for a major mental health condition—including depression, anxiety, PTSD, an eating disorder, or major psycho- logical distress—while only 16% of respondents report having ever received a diagnosis for a mental health condition. Women respondents are more likely to screen positive for anxiety dis- orders (4.4x for panic disorder, 2.2x for other anxiety, and 1.9x for PTSD) and major depressive disorder (2.3x) relative to men. Respondents reporting physical disabilities have significantly higher likelihoods of suffering from mental health issues than peers with no reported physical disabilities and are 2.9! more likely to screen positive for PTSD. Identifying as Hispanic was also a significant predictor of major depressive disorder (3.2x more likely) and PTSD (2.5x more likely).