How do doctoral researchers describe social, supervisory and institutional contexts of stress and wellbeing, and what support do they perceive as helpful or difficult to access?

Analyze how doctoral researchers describe social, supervisory and institutional contexts of stress and wellbeing, and what support they perceive as helpful or difficult to access, focusing on supervisory relationships as critical supports or stressors.

• The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · Used in the synthesis

  Cited by supported judgments in: Supervisory relationships as critical supports or stressors; Peer and social support networks

  Inspect 56 sources

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted in 2008/09 with 17 international doctoral nursing students representing 9 different countries from 6 different UK universities. Data were analysed thematically.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 3

    Seventeen students from 6 different universities across the UK volunteered to be interviewed. It is not clear why students from only 6 universities responded - we did not attempt to ascertain whether all 13 participating Schools had indeed followed through with the requests to advertise the study.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    headings, or guidelines, I thought it was like, just a total programme......... I didn ’ t think it would be pure research, just by learning by yourself (S.16) Likewise, many students (n = 13) noted that they had expected a greater focus on professional nursing issues within their programme and

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    were surprised at the almost exclusive emphasis on research. Some students had expected to undertake clinically-oriented specialist courses alongside clinical practice, as was their experi- ence from their own countries: Clinical theory it ’ s more important, it ’ s like we already told our Dean of

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    the department here - we need it because we come here and you can find noth- ing. There is always a gap between your theory and the practice. And why we do PhD but we don ’ t have clinical experience? It ’ s so tricky you know; you know it ’ s a problem but you still not operate.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 9

    charge of doing everything by your own, this puts a lot of stress on you (S.9) Most participants carried the weight of high expecta- tions from family, colleagues and sponsors on their shoulders which, in some cases, had clearly led to chronic anxiety about whether they would succeed.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    qualitative study. BMC Nursing 2011 10 :11. Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Central and take full advantage of: • Convenient online submission • Thorough peer review • No space constraints or color figure charges • Immediate publication on acceptance • Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    The UK is a key provider of doctoral education for international nursing students, however, very little is known about international doctoral nursing students ’ learning experiences during their doctoral study.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 2

    Nursing Context Currently, UK nursing doctorates consist of two main programme routes - the professional doctorate and the ‘ traditional ’ PhD.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    Others were not specifically seeking further specialist courses but had expected the PhD programme to include more input on understanding the UK nursing situation. Only two mentioned having spent time visit- ing clinical settings during their time in the UK.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    A num- ber of students commented that this lack of engagement with UK nursing had hindered their ability to reflect cri- tically upon nursing in their own countries or to act as agents of change upon their return: This is the problem we all have now.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    If we go back to our country someone will say ‘ what is UK healthcare system ’ ? We don ’ t know, because we don ’ t have a chance to go into the field, we didn ’ t have a chance to observe. We just do our research, in our field only, in office, face the computer. How can we know nur- sing here?

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 9

    charge of doing everything by your own, this puts a lot of stress on you (S.9) Most participants carried the weight of high expecta- tions from family, colleagues and sponsors on their shoulders which, in some cases, had clearly led to chronic anxiety about whether they would succeed.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    qualitative study. BMC Nursing 2011 10 :11. Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Central and take full advantage of: • Convenient online submission • Thorough peer review • No space constraints or color figure charges • Immediate publication on acceptance • Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E Open Access The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study Catrin Evans 1* and Keith Stevenson 2 Abstract Background: Educating nurses to doctoral level is an important means of developing nursing capacity

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 2

    To our knowledge there have only been 3 nursing- related studies published on the international doctoral student experience One (published in 1995) was a retro- spective phenomenological interview study conducted amongst 23 Taiwanese nursing graduates of US educa- tional programmes, 4 of whom had

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    headings, or guidelines, I thought it was like, just a total programme......... I didn ’ t think it would be pure research, just by learning by yourself (S.16) Likewise, many students (n = 13) noted that they had expected a greater focus on professional nursing issues within their programme and

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    were surprised at the almost exclusive emphasis on research. Some students had expected to undertake clinically-oriented specialist courses alongside clinical practice, as was their experi- ence from their own countries: Clinical theory it ’ s more important, it ’ s like we already told our Dean of

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    the department here - we need it because we come here and you can find noth- ing. There is always a gap between your theory and the practice. And why we do PhD but we don ’ t have clinical experience? It ’ s so tricky you know; you know it ’ s a problem but you still not operate.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 9

    charge of doing everything by your own, this puts a lot of stress on you (S.9) Most participants carried the weight of high expecta- tions from family, colleagues and sponsors on their shoulders which, in some cases, had clearly led to chronic anxiety about whether they would succeed.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    Silverman D: Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction London: Sage; 1993. 34. Boyatzis R: Transforming qualitative information: thematic analysis and code development London: Sage; 1998. 35.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    This paper reports on a national study that sought to investigate the learning expectations and experiences of overseas doctoral nursing students in the UK.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 2

    The International Doctoral Nursing Student Experience A recent literature review carried out by the authors synthesised a wide body of evidence relating to overseas doctoral students [6].

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    Many participants found this extremely difficult, especially in the first year, when they were try- ing to find a focus and identify their research questions.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    (S.13) A third transition was the need to understand and adjust to the expectation of originality and criticality in doctoral level work. Many students noted that their edu- cational backgrounds had trained them to describe and replicate knowledge rather than to create it.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 6

    These students strongly emphasised the enormous challenge of studying in English. For them, social interaction and academic study initially demanded a huge effort which created stress and anxiety because of the extra time and energy that every task required.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 9

    Much of their discussion focused on the personal devel- opment that stemmed from adaptation to a new country as well as academic development as a result of their stu- dies. Many noted that their confidence and their ability to manage their life and work independently had grown tremendously.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    Studies in Higher Education 2005, 30(2) :137-154. 37. Lovitts B: The transition to independent research: who makes it, who doesn ’ t and why. The Journal of Higher Education 2008, 79(3) :296-325. 38. Goode J: Empowering or disempowering the international PhD student?

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted in 2008/09 with 17 international doctoral nursing students representing 9 different countries from 6 different UK universities. Data were analysed thematically.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 3

    The study employed semi-structured inter- views to give primacy to students ’ own perspectives and to the uniqueness of their individual experience [27,28]. A cross-sectional design was adopted whereby each par- ticipant was interviewed once at a particular point in their doctoral journey.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    headings, or guidelines, I thought it was like, just a total programme......... I didn ’ t think it would be pure research, just by learning by yourself (S.16) Likewise, many students (n = 13) noted that they had expected a greater focus on professional nursing issues within their programme and

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    were surprised at the almost exclusive emphasis on research. Some students had expected to undertake clinically-oriented specialist courses alongside clinical practice, as was their experi- ence from their own countries: Clinical theory it ’ s more important, it ’ s like we already told our Dean of

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    the department here - we need it because we come here and you can find noth- ing. There is always a gap between your theory and the practice. And why we do PhD but we don ’ t have clinical experience? It ’ s so tricky you know; you know it ’ s a problem but you still not operate.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 10

    Discussion This study has identified five factors associated with doctoral study in the UK that affected the nature of the learning experience for overseas doctoral nursing students. First, there was a gap between students ’ expectations of PhD study and the reality that they encountered.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    Silverman D: Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction London: Sage; 1993. 34. Boyatzis R: Transforming qualitative information: thematic analysis and code development London: Sage; 1998. 35.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    Results: Studying for a UK PhD involved a number of significant transitions, including adjusting to a new country/ culture, to new pedagogical approaches and, in some cases, to learning in a second language.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    Students did not always feel well integrated into their department ’ s wider research environment, and wanted more opportunities to network with their UK peers.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 8

    The academic transitions and chal- lenges took place in the context of adjustment to leaving home and learning to live in a new country and culture. Thus, many participants described struggling with lone- liness, isolation and the cost of living in the UK: Sometimes you feel you are an alien here.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 8

    How to say? The world feels upside down. I am away from my home country, from my family. I feel very lonely because I come from an extended family with many people living with me, so I found staying alone in this country is very difficult.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 8

    Here you are totally in Table 4 Challenges and achievements during the PhD journey Challenges Achievements • Stress • Increased confidence • Anxiety • Opened eyes • Self-doubt • New ways of thinking • Homesickness • Increased self-esteem • Suffering • Independence • Financial

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 10

    Discussion This study has identified five factors associated with doctoral study in the UK that affected the nature of the learning experience for overseas doctoral nursing students. First, there was a gap between students ’ expectations of PhD study and the reality that they encountered.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    Constructions of the dependent and independent learner. British Journal of Sociology of Education 2007, 28(5) :589-603. 39. Carroll J, Ryan J: Teaching international students: improving learning for all London: Routledge; 2005. 40.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 3

    dent group. Methods Research Design and Methodology The study adopted a descriptive qualitative approach. A descriptive approach is considered appropriate when the features of particular phenomenon are not yet well understood.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 3

    The research adopted a construc- tivist methodological approach [29], recognising that students ’ accounts of their learning experiences were socially constructed, reflecting their own unique lives and backgrounds and reinterpreted for a researcher dur- ing the interview process.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    headings, or guidelines, I thought it was like, just a total programme......... I didn ’ t think it would be pure research, just by learning by yourself (S.16) Likewise, many students (n = 13) noted that they had expected a greater focus on professional nursing issues within their programme and

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    were surprised at the almost exclusive emphasis on research. Some students had expected to undertake clinically-oriented specialist courses alongside clinical practice, as was their experi- ence from their own countries: Clinical theory it ’ s more important, it ’ s like we already told our Dean of

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    the department here - we need it because we come here and you can find noth- ing. There is always a gap between your theory and the practice. And why we do PhD but we don ’ t have clinical experience? It ’ s so tricky you know; you know it ’ s a problem but you still not operate.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 11

    Limitations The most significant limitation of this research is its cross-sectional design which provided only a snap-shot of student views at a particular point in time, and in so doing limited the conceptualization of the PhD as a long term learning process.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    Silverman D: Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction London: Sage; 1993. 34. Boyatzis R: Transforming qualitative information: thematic analysis and code development London: Sage; 1998. 35.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    A good supervision relationship was perceived as the most critical element of support in a doctoral programme, but good relationships were sometimes difficult to attain due to differences in student/supervisor expectations and in approaches to supervision.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    The PhD was perceived as a difficult and stressful journey, but those nearing the end reflected positively on it as a life changing experience in which they had developed key professional and personal skills.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    Many participants found this extremely difficult, especially in the first year, when they were try- ing to find a focus and identify their research questions.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 6

    These students strongly emphasised the enormous challenge of studying in English. For them, social interaction and academic study initially demanded a huge effort which created stress and anxiety because of the extra time and energy that every task required.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 7

    Interestingly, although students clearly valued particular supervisory characteristics such as being knowledgeable or accessible, the most highly valued supervisory attri- bute was the demonstration of a personalised student- centred approach.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 10

    Discussion This study has identified five factors associated with doctoral study in the UK that affected the nature of the learning experience for overseas doctoral nursing students. First, there was a gap between students ’ expectations of PhD study and the reality that they encountered.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    qualitative study. BMC Nursing 2011 10 :11. Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Central and take full advantage of: • Convenient online submission • Thorough peer review • No space constraints or color figure charges • Immediate publication on acceptance • Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and

• Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · Used in the synthesis

  Cited by supported judgments in: Supervisory relationships as critical supports or stressors; Institutional and policy environments; Systemic and individual manifestations of stress and coping

  Inspect 63 sources

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 1

    Method : This study was conducted by a qualitative method employing the Grounded Theory. Through purposive sampling, 10 Chinese PhD students were selected on the basis of theoretical sampling, and data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the participants.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    Participant ’ s code Age Gender Period of PhD training Relationship status No. 1 26 Male 1st Year PhD Student Single No. 2 27 Female 1 st Year PhD Student Single No. 3 28 Male 2 nd Year PhD Student Married No. 4 32 Female 2 nd Year PhD Student Single No.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    5 29 Female 3 rd Year PhD Student Single No. 6 42 Male 3 rd Year PhD Student Married No. 7 48 Male 4 th Year PhD Student Married No. 8 36 Female 4 th Year PhD Student Married No. 9 40 Female 5 th Year PhD Student Married No.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    PhD is hard, and getting harder, as universities attach greater importance to the domestic ranking which is mostly based on research quality and revenue (e.g., the number of projects at national level and publications in core periodicals).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    In accordance with the procedures and criteria for the conferral of a doctoral degree widely applicable in almost all institutions of higher education in China, doctoral degree is conferred on two conditions, i.e., (1) a thesis of no less than 100,000 words, which should be independently

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    developed and publicly defended, containing original research results and new insights in their respective fields or subfields; and (2) at least two articles published or accepted for publication in core periodicals in the fields related to their major (i.e., core periodicals listed in Chinese

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    All participants, recruited from seven uni- versities in three provinces in China, were majoring in humanities and social science.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 1

    Conclusion : Chinese PhD students experienced stress from a variety of sources, corroborating with and reinforcing previous research findings.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    The GT emerging from the data is considered to be at substantive level as suggested by Glaser and Strauss (1967), for the explanations we have derived for psycho- logical stress apply specifically to Chinese PhD students (majoring in social science) in the setting that we stu- died.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    separately or collectively (see Figure 1). Graduation In China, full-time doctorate program is normally designed to be completed in 3 years, but the program duration of a professional doctorate is rather flexible, i.e., comprising a minimum of 3 years full-time-equivalent (FTE) study and a

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    PhD is hard, and getting harder, as universities attach greater importance to the domestic ranking which is mostly based on research quality and revenue (e.g., the number of projects at national level and publications in core periodicals).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    help from supervisors. At a time when publication output has become a mile- stone for academic selection and promotion (e.g., conferring of all academic titles), access to future research funding, or professional development oppor- tunities in institutions of higher education in China, it is really

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 6

    Interviews revealed that stu- dents had a varying spectrum of motivation for choosing PhD program, e.g., to find a job in out- standing institutions of higher education, research institutes or prominent institutions or corporations, get promotion, receive a pay raise, etc., consequently to

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    limited number of periodicals listed in CSSCI is completely out of proportion to the overwhelming number of people desperate for publication; Another reason is that the aca- demic community is not fully immune to problems such as bias and discrimination, as is evidenced by an implicit or unspoken

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    From 2007 on, the number of students enrolled in a PhD has maintained at 50,000 per year, a striking increase compared with 18 PhD stu- dents in 1979 when PhD candidates in China were enrolled for the first time; Meanwhile, personal factors also count.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    Factors such as gender, social status, and social connections or networks will influence the extent to which students get bullied; Further, non-supportive family or companion, as well as intense roommate relationship also contribute to PhD stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    These semi-structured, in-depth interviews varied in length from 30 min to nearly 1 h and were audio recorded, then each interview was allocated a number to its transcript.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    The interviews were conducted in Chinese and translated in English, then back-translation method was used to ensure linguistic equivalency of instru- ments before and after translation (Brislin, Lonner, & Thorndike, 1973).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    The interview transcripts were com- pared with each other for common words, phrases, and concepts through constant comparative method.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 6

    Interviews revealed that stu- dents had a varying spectrum of motivation for choosing PhD program, e.g., to find a job in out- standing institutions of higher education, research institutes or prominent institutions or corporations, get promotion, receive a pay raise, etc., consequently to

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 7

    Some supervisors sometimes were aca- demically enabling and supportive, for example, help- ing set out schedules for paper or thesis writing, but the interviews revealed that more often, supervisors were also bullies.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Discussion As is revealed from the data, the triggers for PhD stress were diverse and complex. The participants interpreted or dictated their own ascription of what caused their stress, and all participants experienced at least one source of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 2

    In this study, stress is confined to negative emo- tional experiences that can make people feel exhausted and edgy, steal their focus, or leave them spending their nights sleepless and frantic, not includ- ing distress or psychological disorder in psycho-oncol- ogy literature as suggested by

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    The theory depicted vividly the nuanced nature of participants ’ experiences of stress. Although the partici- pants ’ individual circumstances varied to a certain degree, all of them deemed psychological stress as an indispensable experience which accompanies their lives as PhD students.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    Almost all students agreed that they were suffering or had suffered the common ailments known as PhD fatigue and PhD blues when choosing a subject satisfac- tion to themselves and their supervisors, as Participant No.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Discussion As is revealed from the data, the triggers for PhD stress were diverse and complex. The participants interpreted or dictated their own ascription of what caused their stress, and all participants experienced at least one source of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Apprehension at not completing the PhD program on time was described by all the participants as the most important factor stressing them out, which echoes the research findings by Elisabeth Pain (2017). This stress is closely related to academic policy, personal factors, and supervisor guidance.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    Participants in this study described stress as a sali- ent experience closely related to their interpersonal relationships (with family members, class mates, supervisors, etc.), identity development, and career decision-making processes, etc.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    of most PhD students, consequently, stress or anxiety results. These findings corroborate with previous research findings (e.g., Levecque et al., 2017); Relationship crisis is even more tricky.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    Data collection and analysis We interviewed the participants individually in private places at different time in the past 12 months, by asking them open-ended questions in a face-to-face manner.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    These semi-structured, in-depth interviews varied in length from 30 min to nearly 1 h and were audio recorded, then each interview was allocated a number to its transcript.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    The interviews were conducted in Chinese and translated in English, then back-translation method was used to ensure linguistic equivalency of instru- ments before and after translation (Brislin, Lonner, & Thorndike, 1973).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    3 put it, “… my supervisor wanted me to choose a subject which could sustain interest for several years … I have to spend days alone in front of my computer, surf- ing the internet. Now, 5 months have passed, the topic is not as gripping as initially believed.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 6

    Interviews revealed that stu- dents had a varying spectrum of motivation for choosing PhD program, e.g., to find a job in out- standing institutions of higher education, research institutes or prominent institutions or corporations, get promotion, receive a pay raise, etc., consequently to

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 7

    Some supervisors sometimes were aca- demically enabling and supportive, for example, help- ing set out schedules for paper or thesis writing, but the interviews revealed that more often, supervisors were also bullies.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    The results revealed that the concepts of causes for psycho- logical stress converged into four core categories, i.e., graduation, job prospects, relationship and other fac- tors, and each category contained its subcategories and properties, making contributing triggers for psychologi- cal stress,

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    separately or collectively (see Figure 1). Graduation In China, full-time doctorate program is normally designed to be completed in 3 years, but the program duration of a professional doctorate is rather flexible, i.e., comprising a minimum of 3 years full-time-equivalent (FTE) study and a

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    Final Coding System. Category Subcategory Codes Graduation article publication supervisor ’ s omission; publication policy; excess demands; personal reasons thesis writing time limit; course loads; supervisor ’ s omission; thesis proposal; oral defence; spot-checking; personal reasons; etc.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    It really drove me crazy. ” Students would be in possibly a more desperate situation when their supervisors gave no or little advice for revision and merely refused to let them stand for a defence.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    Feeling extre- mely exhausted and suffering from severe insomnia, she was considering withdrawing from the PhD program.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    said, “ I am not well-prepared for the PhD study, not recognizing that it is so hard to get articles published and complete the thesis, although I had full knowl- edge of the Doctorate Conferral requirements when I began the PhD program.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    Anyway, these findings indicate that stress or anxiety is prevalent in PhD students; so, there is a real need for PhD programs to actively support candidates completing timely PhDs.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    Our data also reveal that stress is more prominent among female students, corroborating with previous research findings (e.g., Gu, Levin, & Luo, 2017; Morse & Dravo, 2007).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 2

    So, the infor- mants were selected based on purposive sampling and willingness to participate. An effort was made to interview two PhD students, one male and one female, in the first and third year of study respectively. The pilot study to explore their experiences was conducted in early 2017.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    at the outset of the study, subsequently, theoretical sampling was adopted until theoretical saturation of the main body of data occurred (Charmaz, 2014). The Demographic characteristics of the participants are depicted in Table I.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    Two strategies proposed by Creswell (2007) were employed to establish credibility of the data: (1) mem- ber checking, i.e., the participants were provided with the data or interpretations of the results to verify the accuracy based on their experiences; and (2) peer review, i.e., two external

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 7

    Other factors During the process of axial coding, we found some sub-categories overlapping and converging. Some factors were not uniformly applicable to all the parti- cipants, namely, only part of the participants claimed these factors to be the sources of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Discussion As is revealed from the data, the triggers for PhD stress were diverse and complex. The participants interpreted or dictated their own ascription of what caused their stress, and all participants experienced at least one source of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Apprehension at not completing the PhD program on time was described by all the participants as the most important factor stressing them out, which echoes the research findings by Elisabeth Pain (2017). This stress is closely related to academic policy, personal factors, and supervisor guidance.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    All participants, recruited from seven uni- versities in three provinces in China, were majoring in humanities and social science.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    The results revealed that the concepts of causes for psycho- logical stress converged into four core categories, i.e., graduation, job prospects, relationship and other fac- tors, and each category contained its subcategories and properties, making contributing triggers for psychologi- cal stress,

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    To some participants, one single factor could account for their stress; but to most participants, their problem should be understood as reflecting a complex set of triggers that combine aspects of more than two explanations.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    And the more stressors they experienced, the more stressed they tended to feel, i.e., the interactions among these factors severely increased their degree of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Apprehension at not completing the PhD program on time was described by all the participants as the most important factor stressing them out, which echoes the research findings by Elisabeth Pain (2017). This stress is closely related to academic policy, personal factors, and supervisor guidance.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    The requirement of publica- tion of two articles in core periodicals is intended to promote the quality of doctoral education for prepar- ing students to participate in research cultures, based on the idea that some pressure to produce cutting- edge research is necessary to motivate scholars early

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 6

    China and appointed at a higher level, or even at full professor level immediately. Further, female PhD students were more stressed than their male counterparts, for fear of gender dis- crimination in job seeking.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    Relatedly, the first limitation of this study is that data collection at such a time may have heightened sensitivity to experiences related to stress for PhD students and influenced partici- pants ’ responses; The second limitation involves sampling.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    All participants, recruited from seven uni- versities in three provinces in China, were majoring in humanities and social science.

• Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · Used in the synthesis

  Cited by supported judgments in: Supervisory relationships as critical supports or stressors; Systemic and individual manifestations of stress and coping

  Inspect 138 sources

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 2

    a clearly delineated sub-set, were studying at the doctoral level for a research degree (DRs or equiva- lent); and (4) the data collected related to mental health constructs.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 6

    Table 1 List of studies included in this review Sample size Scale Article Article type Method Total PhD n Male n Female n Other n Age M ( SD ) Universities Countries Lead country Acker et al. (2015) [36] P Qualitative 27 5 22 0 -( − ) Single Single Canada Appel et al.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 6

    (2003) [37] P Mixed 159 77 82 0 -( − ) Single Single Sweden Bauer (2016) [48] D Quantitative 118 28 90 0 -( − ) Multiple Single USA Bazrafkan et al. (2016) [41] P Qualitative – – – – 32(9) Multiple Single Iran Begun et al.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 6

    (2017) [49] P Mixed 281 219 60 2 38(9) Multiple Single USA Benjamin et al. (2017) [50] P Qualitative 29 11 18 0 -( − ) Multiple Single USA Benesek (1998) [51] D Quantitative 66 11 55 0 -( − ) Multiple Single USA Bireda (2015) [52] P Qualitative 5 0 5 0 -( − )

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 12

    Death of personhood A sacrifice of personal identity • Enmeshment of self-identity and PhD; ‘… this program and what I am doing is essentially my life and everything else revolves around me doing this [PhD]. ’ [59] (p. 10).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • DRs felt that the systemic encouragement of unhealthy lifestyles was tantamount to abuse; ‘ The abuse I experienced is hard to characterize, especially in a survey form.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • DRs reported feeling powerless and caught up in institutional values; ‘ It ’ s easy to drink the Kool-Aid here, to buy into the mantra that I must aim to be a

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    • Gendered and racial micropolitics were evident; ‘ So I think any student who wants to make a complaint or lodge anything formal, unless you're some white person who thinks or knows, hey, these institutions are here to serve me, then fine, let them go ahead.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    Seeing, being and becoming De-programming • DRs spoke of rejecting the belief they should sacrifice personal relationships and identities; ‘ One student in a male-dominated programme said she was not impressed by her advisor ’ s boasting of having only taken Christmas day off when he first began

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    purpose [81] and could lead to opting out of an aca- demic career [62, 74]. Isolation within the PhD was compounded by isolation from one ’ s personal relationships.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    This personal isolation was first physical, in which the laborious nature of the PhD acted as a catalyst for the breakdown of pre- existing relationships [76]. Moreover, DRs also experi- enced a sense of psychological detachment [45, 74].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    Thus, the experience of isolation appeared to be ex- tremely pervasive, with DRs feeling excluded and iso- lated physically and psychologically and across both their professional and personal lives.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    rise to a feeling of increased stress, pressure, role con- flicts, and a feeling of being unsafe. Seeing, being and becoming The higher-order theme of ‘ Seeing, being and becoming ’ reflects protective and transformative influences on DR mental health.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    The generalisability of our findings is limited largely due to the lack of research conducted outside of the US, but also because we limited our review to papers written in English only. The nature of doctoral stud- ies varies in important ways between studies.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 27

    any differences in the academic culture, are likely to affect the prevalence of mental health problems amongst DRs and the associated risk and protective factors. More research is needed outside of the US.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 2

    The aim of this systematic review is to bring attention specifically to the mental health of DRs by summarising the available evidence on this issue.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    Narration Prevalence Several studies reported DR mental health problem prevalence and this ranged from 36.30% [54] to 55.9% [67].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    One study compared prevalence amongst DRs and the gen- eral population, employees and other higher education students; in all instances, DRs had higher levels of psy- chological distress (non-clinical), and met criteria for a clinical psychiatric disorder more frequently [64].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 9

    The first two themes reflect individual risk/vulnerability factors and the processes implicated in the experience of mental distress, the third represents systemic risk and vulnerability factors and the final theme reflects individual and systemic protect- ive mechanisms and transformative

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    Ariunaa's decision to suppress her anxiety about her son may have been prompted by observing the ‘ care-less ’ (Lynch, 2010) culture of the academy which ‘ values … competitive … and individualistic practices ’ (Bansel, 2011, p. 552).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • Supervisors and the system were seen to promote an expectation of DR suffering; ‘ Katie mentioned a “ proactive ” approach to stress on multiple occasions throughout her interview; unfortunately, however, her portrayal of the prevailing attitudes within the doctoral learning environment was

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • The cycle of indigenousness of mental health problems was maintained by poor mental health literacy and lack of mental health and support provision; ‘ Caroline: “ I think we are afforded them [mental health services], I just haven ’ t taken advantage of it, even though I probably should have.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • DRs reported feeling powerless and caught up in institutional values; ‘ It ’ s easy to drink the Kool-Aid here, to buy into the mantra that I must aim to be a

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    scholarships, stipends, tuition remission, and fellowships. One student asked, “ So, how do they think people live? ” These concerns led to some very expressive reactions to leaders ’ suggestions concerning financial and budget-management counselling.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    Seeing, being and becoming De-programming • DRs spoke of rejecting the belief they should sacrifice personal relationships and identities; ‘ One student in a male-dominated programme said she was not impressed by her advisor ’ s boasting of having only taken Christmas day off when he first began

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    It ’ s not you, it ’ s me ‘ It ’ s not you, it ’ s me ’ reflects DRs ’ perfectionism as a central challenge of their PhD experi- ence and a contributor to their sense of psychological isolation from other people.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    DRs ’ perfectionism manifested in four key ways; firstly, in the overwhelming sense of responsibility experienced by DRs; secondly, in the tendency to position themselves as inadequate and inferior; thirdly, in cycles of perfectionist paralysis; and finally, in the tendency to find evidence which

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    confirms their assumed inferiority. DRs positioned themselves as solely responsible for their PhD and for the creation of a positive relationship with their supervisor [36, 52, 81].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    rise to a feeling of increased stress, pressure, role con- flicts, and a feeling of being unsafe. Seeing, being and becoming The higher-order theme of ‘ Seeing, being and becoming ’ reflects protective and transformative influences on DR mental health.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    The qualitative and quantitative findings presented here suggest that poor mental health is a pertinent prob- lem facing DRs; stress appears to be a key issue and sig- nificantly in excess of that experienced in the general population.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    Systemic factors DRs ’ attitudes towards their studies may be a product of top-down systemic issues in academia more broadly. Ex- periencing mental health problems was reported as be- ing the ‘ norm ’ , but also appeared to be understood as a sign of weakness.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    For ex- ample, in Europe, PhD studies usually apply for funding to complete their thesis within 3 – 4 years and must know their topic of interest at the application stage.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    Whereas in the US, PhD studies usually take between 5 and 6 years, involve taking classes and completing assignments, and the thesis topic evolves over the course of the PhD. These factors, as well as Hazell et al. Systematic Reviews (2020) 9:197 Page 26 of 30

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 1

    Systematic review registration: PROSPERO registration CRD42018092867 Keywords: Mental health, PhD students, doctoral researchers, Postgraduate researchers, Systematic review Background Student mental health has become a regular feature across media outlets in the United Kingdom (UK), with

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 6

    Table 1 List of studies included in this review Sample size Scale Article Article type Method Total PhD n Male n Female n Other n Age M ( SD ) Universities Countries Lead country Acker et al. (2015) [36] P Qualitative 27 5 22 0 -( − ) Single Single Canada Appel et al.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 6

    (2003) [37] P Mixed 159 77 82 0 -( − ) Single Single Sweden Bauer (2016) [48] D Quantitative 118 28 90 0 -( − ) Multiple Single USA Bazrafkan et al. (2016) [41] P Qualitative – – – – 32(9) Multiple Single Iran Begun et al.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    data did not pertain to mental health Fig. 2 A meta-analysis of between-group effect sizes (Cohen ’ s d ) comparing PSS scores (both 10- and 14-item versions) from DRs and normative population data.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 12

    Death of personhood A sacrifice of personal identity • Enmeshment of self-identity and PhD; ‘… this program and what I am doing is essentially my life and everything else revolves around me doing this [PhD]. ’ [59] (p. 10).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • DRs felt that the systemic encouragement of unhealthy lifestyles was tantamount to abuse; ‘ The abuse I experienced is hard to characterize, especially in a survey form.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • DRs reported feeling powerless and caught up in institutional values; ‘ It ’ s easy to drink the Kool-Aid here, to buy into the mantra that I must aim to be a

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    • De-programming from prioritising academia above all was associated with greater confidence, career commitment and motivation; ‘… students reported the greatest confidence and motivation when fac- ulty validated the importance of personal relationships and family matters, and helped students

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 17

    Chaotic, a lot of motion, and then in the foreground is a caravan moving through the desert and everything seems serene and ordered, and you see the stars and so much beauty.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • Feeing that supervisors believed in them scaffolded DRs sense of self-agency and motivation; ‘ Journey explained that his supervisors ’ trust in his ability

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    had given him the confidence to begin writing: J: when … you are a person from an environment that is not really value publication as it is here, and then you come to this place – R: – to compete on an even footing – J: Yes … I was very happy that my supervi- sors yeah they trust me, tried

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    to motivate me – ‘ Yes you can, you have experience ’ and … when we dis- cuss content-based knowledge, ah maybe they said – ‘ Yeah … you have ’ R: Mmm J: Then ah one of them at that time started to ask me to write a paper. I guess it's a kind of recognition that you … can do that.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 2

    Using a mixed methods approach, including meta- analysis and meta-synthesis, this review seeks to answer three research questions: (1) What is the prevalence of mental health difficulties amongst DRs? (2) What are the risk factors associated with poor mental health in DRs?

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    Narration Prevalence Several studies reported DR mental health problem prevalence and this ranged from 36.30% [54] to 55.9% [67].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    Risk factors Demographics Two studies reported no sig- nificant difference between males and females in terms of reported stress [57, 73], but the majority suggested fe- male DRs report greater clinical [80], and non-clinical problems with their mental health [37, 64, 79, 83, 89].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    Protective factors DRs who more strongly endorsed all of the five-factor personality traits (openness, conscien- tiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism) [66], self-reported higher academic achievement [40] and viewed their studies as a learning process (rather than a Fig.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 12

    Death of personhood A sacrifice of personal identity • Enmeshment of self-identity and PhD; ‘… this program and what I am doing is essentially my life and everything else revolves around me doing this [PhD]. ’ [59] (p. 10).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • DRs felt that the systemic encouragement of unhealthy lifestyles was tantamount to abuse; ‘ The abuse I experienced is hard to characterize, especially in a survey form.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • DRs reported feeling powerless and caught up in institutional values; ‘ It ’ s easy to drink the Kool-Aid here, to buy into the mantra that I must aim to be a

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    Seeing, being and becoming De-programming • DRs spoke of rejecting the belief they should sacrifice personal relationships and identities; ‘ One student in a male-dominated programme said she was not impressed by her advisor ’ s boasting of having only taken Christmas day off when he first began

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 17

    Chaotic, a lot of motion, and then in the foreground is a caravan moving through the desert and everything seems serene and ordered, and you see the stars and so much beauty.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    DRs ’ perfectionism manifested in four key ways; firstly, in the overwhelming sense of responsibility experienced by DRs; secondly, in the tendency to position themselves as inadequate and inferior; thirdly, in cycles of perfectionist paralysis; and finally, in the tendency to find evidence which

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 19

    Death of personhood The higher-order theme ‘ Death of personhood ’ reflects DRs ’ identity conflict during the PhD process; a sense that DRs ’ engage in a ‘ Sacrifice of personal identity ’ in which they feel they must give up their pre-existing self-identity, begin to conceive of

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 20

    The system is sick The higher-order theme ‘ The system is sick ’ represents systemic influences on DR mental health. First, ‘ Most everyone ’ s mad here ’ reflects the perceived ubiquity mental health problems amongst DRs.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    rise to a feeling of increased stress, pressure, role con- flicts, and a feeling of being unsafe. Seeing, being and becoming The higher-order theme of ‘ Seeing, being and becoming ’ reflects protective and transformative influences on DR mental health.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    ‘ The power of being seen ’ reflects the positive impact on DR mental health afforded by feeling visible to personal and profes- sional others.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    ‘ Finding hope, meaning and authenticity ’ refers to processes by which DRs can find or re-locate their own self-agency, purpose and re/establish a sense of living in accordance with their values.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, self-care was associated with reduced mental health problems. The quantitative find- ings suggest that all types of self-care are likely to be protective of mental health (i.e. physical, emotional, pro- fessional and spiritual self-care).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    That is, isolation was a risk factor, whereas connectedness to others was a protective factor. There was some variability in how these constructs were conceptualised across studies, i.e.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    The quantitative analysis found a negative correlation between inspirational supervision and mental health problems.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 3

    calculated following original authors ’ instructions. Only the Per- ceived Stress Scale (PSS) 10- [18] and 14-item versions [19] met these criteria.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    Narration Prevalence Several studies reported DR mental health problem prevalence and this ranged from 36.30% [54] to 55.9% [67].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    data did not pertain to mental health Fig. 2 A meta-analysis of between-group effect sizes (Cohen ’ s d ) comparing PSS scores (both 10- and 14-item versions) from DRs and normative population data.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    One study compared prevalence amongst DRs and the gen- eral population, employees and other higher education students; in all instances, DRs had higher levels of psy- chological distress (non-clinical), and met criteria for a clinical psychiatric disorder more frequently [64].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 12

    Death of personhood A sacrifice of personal identity • Enmeshment of self-identity and PhD; ‘… this program and what I am doing is essentially my life and everything else revolves around me doing this [PhD]. ’ [59] (p. 10).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • DRs felt that the systemic encouragement of unhealthy lifestyles was tantamount to abuse; ‘ The abuse I experienced is hard to characterize, especially in a survey form.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    • Feeling inauthentic when acting in line with institutional values had a high psychological toll; ‘ The need to get along with a supervisor, to conform and to support institutional values was clearly expressed, and the use of such self-presentation behaviours created feelings of frustration,

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Sometimes they felt that there were unexpressed conflicts and unwritten rules with which they were unacquainted, and which had originated from old conflicts that were still present. ’ [37] (p. 107-8).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    • De-programming from prioritising academia above all was associated with greater confidence, career commitment and motivation; ‘… students reported the greatest confidence and motivation when fac- ulty validated the importance of personal relationships and family matters, and helped students

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • Feeing that supervisors believed in them scaffolded DRs sense of self-agency and motivation; ‘ Journey explained that his supervisors ’ trust in his ability

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    had given him the confidence to begin writing: J: when … you are a person from an environment that is not really value publication as it is here, and then you come to this place – R: – to compete on an even footing – J: Yes … I was very happy that my supervi- sors yeah they trust me, tried

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    to motivate me – ‘ Yes you can, you have experience ’ and … when we dis- cuss content-based knowledge, ah maybe they said – ‘ Yeah … you have ’ R: Mmm J: Then ah one of them at that time started to ask me to write a paper. I guess it's a kind of recognition that you … can do that.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    rise to a feeling of increased stress, pressure, role con- flicts, and a feeling of being unsafe. Seeing, being and becoming The higher-order theme of ‘ Seeing, being and becoming ’ reflects protective and transformative influences on DR mental health.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    The qualitative and quantitative findings presented here suggest that poor mental health is a pertinent prob- lem facing DRs; stress appears to be a key issue and sig- nificantly in excess of that experienced in the general population.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 27

    We were able to conduct three meta-analyses, one of which aimed to calculate the between-group effect size on the PSS [18, 19] between DRs and normative popula- tion data.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 27

    Comparing these data allowed us to draw some initial conclusions about the prevalence of stress amongst DRs, yet we were unable to control for other group differences which might moderate stress levels.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 5

    The meta-analysis of DR scores on the PSS (both 10- and 14-item versions) compared to population norma- tive data produced a large and significant between-group effect size ( d = 1.12, 95% CI [0.52, 1.73]) in favour of DRs scoring higher on the PSS than the general popula- tion (Fig.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    One study compared prevalence amongst DRs and the gen- eral population, employees and other higher education students; in all instances, DRs had higher levels of psy- chological distress (non-clinical), and met criteria for a clinical psychiatric disorder more frequently [64].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    Risk factors Demographics Two studies reported no sig- nificant difference between males and females in terms of reported stress [57, 73], but the majority suggested fe- male DRs report greater clinical [80], and non-clinical problems with their mental health [37, 64, 79, 83, 89].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    Several studies explored how mental health difficulties differed in relation to demographic variables other than gender, suggesting that being single or not having chil- dren was associated with poorer mental health [64] as was a lower socioeconomic status [71].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 12

    I suppose that once again it has to do with the fact that I think everyone else is much better than I am. ’ [37] (p. 104). 2.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • DRs felt that the systemic encouragement of unhealthy lifestyles was tantamount to abuse; ‘ The abuse I experienced is hard to characterize, especially in a survey form.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    • Feeling inauthentic when acting in line with institutional values had a high psychological toll; ‘ The need to get along with a supervisor, to conform and to support institutional values was clearly expressed, and the use of such self-presentation behaviours created feelings of frustration,

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    • De-programming from prioritising academia above all was associated with greater confidence, career commitment and motivation; ‘… students reported the greatest confidence and motivation when fac- ulty validated the importance of personal relationships and family matters, and helped students

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 17

    Multiple goals, roles and groups • Multiple role and activities appeared essential for protecting against mental health problems; ‘ We could all very well do nothing but our school work and worry about presentations and like conferences, but we would probably go crazy and you would never get out

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 20

    Some study participants self- disclosed mental health problems and emphasised their pervasive impact [50]. Further lived experiences of men- tal distress in the absence of explicit disclosure were also clearly identifiable.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 20

    The ‘ typical ’ presentation of DRs with respect to mental health appeared characterised as almost unanimous [39] accounts of chronic stress, anx- iety and depression, emotional distress including frustra- tion, anger and irritability, lack of mental and physical energy, somatic problems

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 20

    including appetite problems, headaches, physical pain, nausea and problems with drug and alcohol abuse [39, 46, 59, 76]. Health anxiety, con- cerns regarding perceived new and unusual bodily sensa- tions and perceived risks of developing stress-related illnesses were also common [46, 59, 76].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    Rather than halting success, de- programming from the prioritisation of academia above all else was seen to be associated not only with reduced stress but greater confidence, career commitment and motivation [40, 50].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    Being seen by others seems to provoke the genesis of an academic identity; it brings DRs into existence as academics. Being seen within the academic institution also supports mental health and can buffer emotional exhaustion [37, 52, 55, 81].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    autonomy [44, 82]. The PhD acted as a forge in which DRs were tested and became remoulded into something greater than they had been before [44, 82, 90].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 28

    Conclusions The results from this systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-synthesis suggest that DRs reported greater levels of stress than the general population. Research regarding the risk and protective factors associated with the mental health of DRs is heterogenous and disparate.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 28

    Based on available evidence, robust risk fac- tors appear to include being isolated and being fe- male, and robust protective factors include social support, viewing the PhD as a process, a positive DR- supervisor relationship and engaging in self-care.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 4

    Heterogeneity was assessed using the Q statistic, and I 2 value — both were interpreted ac- cording to the GRADE criteria [26]. Where correlations could not be summarised within a meta-analysis, we have reported these descriptively.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    data did not pertain to mental health Fig. 2 A meta-analysis of between-group effect sizes (Cohen ’ s d ) comparing PSS scores (both 10- and 14-item versions) from DRs and normative population data.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    *Studies using the 14 item version of the PSS; a positive effect size indicates DRs had a higher score on the PSS; a negative effect size indicates that the normative data produced a higher score on the PSS; black diamond = total effect size (based on random effects model); d = Cohen ’ s d ; Q

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 9

    The first two themes reflect individual risk/vulnerability factors and the processes implicated in the experience of mental distress, the third represents systemic risk and vulnerability factors and the final theme reflects individual and systemic protect- ive mechanisms and transformative

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 12

    Death of personhood A sacrifice of personal identity • Enmeshment of self-identity and PhD; ‘… this program and what I am doing is essentially my life and everything else revolves around me doing this [PhD]. ’ [59] (p. 10).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • DRs felt that the systemic encouragement of unhealthy lifestyles was tantamount to abuse; ‘ The abuse I experienced is hard to characterize, especially in a survey form.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • DRs reported feeling powerless and caught up in institutional values; ‘ It ’ s easy to drink the Kool-Aid here, to buy into the mantra that I must aim to be a

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    Seeing, being and becoming De-programming • DRs spoke of rejecting the belief they should sacrifice personal relationships and identities; ‘ One student in a male-dominated programme said she was not impressed by her advisor ’ s boasting of having only taken Christmas day off when he first began

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 17

    Chaotic, a lot of motion, and then in the foreground is a caravan moving through the desert and everything seems serene and ordered, and you see the stars and so much beauty.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • Feeing that supervisors believed in them scaffolded DRs sense of self-agency and motivation; ‘ Journey explained that his supervisors ’ trust in his ability

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    had given him the confidence to begin writing: J: when … you are a person from an environment that is not really value publication as it is here, and then you come to this place – R: – to compete on an even footing – J: Yes … I was very happy that my supervi- sors yeah they trust me, tried

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    to motivate me – ‘ Yes you can, you have experience ’ and … when we dis- cuss content-based knowledge, ah maybe they said – ‘ Yeah … you have ’ R: Mmm J: Then ah one of them at that time started to ask me to write a paper. I guess it's a kind of recognition that you … can do that.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    The qualitative and quantitative findings presented here suggest that poor mental health is a pertinent prob- lem facing DRs; stress appears to be a key issue and sig- nificantly in excess of that experienced in the general population.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    Thus, our results suggest that, when compared to the general population, PhD students experience a greater maladap- tive imbalance between their available resources and the demands placed upon them.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 27

    We were able to conduct three meta-analyses, one of which aimed to calculate the between-group effect size on the PSS [18, 19] between DRs and normative popula- tion data.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 27

    Comparing these data allowed us to draw some initial conclusions about the prevalence of stress amongst DRs, yet we were unable to control for other group differences which might moderate stress levels.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 27

    For example, the population data was from people in the United States (US) in 1 year, whereas the DR data was multi-national at a variety of time points; and self- reported stress levels may vary with nationality [110] or by generation [111, 112].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 5

    To explore this heterogeneity, we re-ran the meta- analysis separately for the 10- and 14-item versions.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    Narration Prevalence Several studies reported DR mental health problem prevalence and this ranged from 36.30% [54] to 55.9% [67].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    One study compared prevalence amongst DRs and the gen- eral population, employees and other higher education students; in all instances, DRs had higher levels of psy- chological distress (non-clinical), and met criteria for a clinical psychiatric disorder more frequently [64].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 9

    The first two themes reflect individual risk/vulnerability factors and the processes implicated in the experience of mental distress, the third represents systemic risk and vulnerability factors and the final theme reflects individual and systemic protect- ive mechanisms and transformative

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • Supervisors and the system were seen to promote an expectation of DR suffering; ‘ Katie mentioned a “ proactive ” approach to stress on multiple occasions throughout her interview; unfortunately, however, her portrayal of the prevailing attitudes within the doctoral learning environment was

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • The cycle of indigenousness of mental health problems was maintained by poor mental health literacy and lack of mental health and support provision; ‘ Caroline: “ I think we are afforded them [mental health services], I just haven ’ t taken advantage of it, even though I probably should have.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • DRs reported feeling powerless and caught up in institutional values; ‘ It ’ s easy to drink the Kool-Aid here, to buy into the mantra that I must aim to be a

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    • De-programming from prioritising academia above all was associated with greater confidence, career commitment and motivation; ‘… students reported the greatest confidence and motivation when fac- ulty validated the importance of personal relationships and family matters, and helped students

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 17

    Multiple goals, roles and groups • Multiple role and activities appeared essential for protecting against mental health problems; ‘ We could all very well do nothing but our school work and worry about presentations and like conferences, but we would probably go crazy and you would never get out

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    Thus, the experience of isolation appeared to be ex- tremely pervasive, with DRs feeling excluded and iso- lated physically and psychologically and across both their professional and personal lives.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 19

    Death of personhood The higher-order theme ‘ Death of personhood ’ reflects DRs ’ identity conflict during the PhD process; a sense that DRs ’ engage in a ‘ Sacrifice of personal identity ’ in which they feel they must give up their pre-existing self-identity, begin to conceive of

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 20

    The system is sick The higher-order theme ‘ The system is sick ’ represents systemic influences on DR mental health. First, ‘ Most everyone ’ s mad here ’ reflects the perceived ubiquity mental health problems amongst DRs.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    The qualitative and quantitative findings presented here suggest that poor mental health is a pertinent prob- lem facing DRs; stress appears to be a key issue and sig- nificantly in excess of that experienced in the general population.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    those supported by multiple studies using qualitative and quantitative findings) denote that being female and isolated increases the risk of the mental health problems, whereas seeing the PhD as a process, feeling socially supported, having a positive supervisor relationship and engaging in

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    Further research is needed to ex- plore which perspective, if any, may explain gender gap in our results. Hazell et al. Systematic Reviews (2020) 9:197 Page 24 of 30

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    However, the results from our meta-synthesis suggest that DRs are not at- tending to their most basic needs much less engaging in self-care behaviours that correspond to psychological and/or self-fulfilment needs [100].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    Systemic factors DRs ’ attitudes towards their studies may be a product of top-down systemic issues in academia more broadly. Ex- periencing mental health problems was reported as be- ing the ‘ norm ’ , but also appeared to be understood as a sign of weakness.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    The generalisability of our findings is limited largely due to the lack of research conducted outside of the US, but also because we limited our review to papers written in English only. The nature of doctoral stud- ies varies in important ways between studies.

To analyze how doctoral researchers describe social, supervisory and institutional contexts of stress and wellbeing, and what support they perceive as helpful or difficult to access, focusing on peer and social support networks.

• The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · Used in the synthesis

  Cited by supported judgments in: Supervisory relationships as critical supports or stressors; Peer and social support networks

  Inspect 56 sources

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted in 2008/09 with 17 international doctoral nursing students representing 9 different countries from 6 different UK universities. Data were analysed thematically.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 3

    Seventeen students from 6 different universities across the UK volunteered to be interviewed. It is not clear why students from only 6 universities responded - we did not attempt to ascertain whether all 13 participating Schools had indeed followed through with the requests to advertise the study.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    headings, or guidelines, I thought it was like, just a total programme......... I didn ’ t think it would be pure research, just by learning by yourself (S.16) Likewise, many students (n = 13) noted that they had expected a greater focus on professional nursing issues within their programme and

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    were surprised at the almost exclusive emphasis on research. Some students had expected to undertake clinically-oriented specialist courses alongside clinical practice, as was their experi- ence from their own countries: Clinical theory it ’ s more important, it ’ s like we already told our Dean of

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    the department here - we need it because we come here and you can find noth- ing. There is always a gap between your theory and the practice. And why we do PhD but we don ’ t have clinical experience? It ’ s so tricky you know; you know it ’ s a problem but you still not operate.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 9

    charge of doing everything by your own, this puts a lot of stress on you (S.9) Most participants carried the weight of high expecta- tions from family, colleagues and sponsors on their shoulders which, in some cases, had clearly led to chronic anxiety about whether they would succeed.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    qualitative study. BMC Nursing 2011 10 :11. Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Central and take full advantage of: • Convenient online submission • Thorough peer review • No space constraints or color figure charges • Immediate publication on acceptance • Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    The UK is a key provider of doctoral education for international nursing students, however, very little is known about international doctoral nursing students ’ learning experiences during their doctoral study.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 2

    Nursing Context Currently, UK nursing doctorates consist of two main programme routes - the professional doctorate and the ‘ traditional ’ PhD.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    Others were not specifically seeking further specialist courses but had expected the PhD programme to include more input on understanding the UK nursing situation. Only two mentioned having spent time visit- ing clinical settings during their time in the UK.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    A num- ber of students commented that this lack of engagement with UK nursing had hindered their ability to reflect cri- tically upon nursing in their own countries or to act as agents of change upon their return: This is the problem we all have now.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    If we go back to our country someone will say ‘ what is UK healthcare system ’ ? We don ’ t know, because we don ’ t have a chance to go into the field, we didn ’ t have a chance to observe. We just do our research, in our field only, in office, face the computer. How can we know nur- sing here?

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 9

    charge of doing everything by your own, this puts a lot of stress on you (S.9) Most participants carried the weight of high expecta- tions from family, colleagues and sponsors on their shoulders which, in some cases, had clearly led to chronic anxiety about whether they would succeed.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    qualitative study. BMC Nursing 2011 10 :11. Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Central and take full advantage of: • Convenient online submission • Thorough peer review • No space constraints or color figure charges • Immediate publication on acceptance • Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E Open Access The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study Catrin Evans 1* and Keith Stevenson 2 Abstract Background: Educating nurses to doctoral level is an important means of developing nursing capacity

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 2

    To our knowledge there have only been 3 nursing- related studies published on the international doctoral student experience One (published in 1995) was a retro- spective phenomenological interview study conducted amongst 23 Taiwanese nursing graduates of US educa- tional programmes, 4 of whom had

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    headings, or guidelines, I thought it was like, just a total programme......... I didn ’ t think it would be pure research, just by learning by yourself (S.16) Likewise, many students (n = 13) noted that they had expected a greater focus on professional nursing issues within their programme and

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    were surprised at the almost exclusive emphasis on research. Some students had expected to undertake clinically-oriented specialist courses alongside clinical practice, as was their experi- ence from their own countries: Clinical theory it ’ s more important, it ’ s like we already told our Dean of

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    the department here - we need it because we come here and you can find noth- ing. There is always a gap between your theory and the practice. And why we do PhD but we don ’ t have clinical experience? It ’ s so tricky you know; you know it ’ s a problem but you still not operate.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 9

    charge of doing everything by your own, this puts a lot of stress on you (S.9) Most participants carried the weight of high expecta- tions from family, colleagues and sponsors on their shoulders which, in some cases, had clearly led to chronic anxiety about whether they would succeed.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    Silverman D: Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction London: Sage; 1993. 34. Boyatzis R: Transforming qualitative information: thematic analysis and code development London: Sage; 1998. 35.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    This paper reports on a national study that sought to investigate the learning expectations and experiences of overseas doctoral nursing students in the UK.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 2

    The International Doctoral Nursing Student Experience A recent literature review carried out by the authors synthesised a wide body of evidence relating to overseas doctoral students [6].

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    Many participants found this extremely difficult, especially in the first year, when they were try- ing to find a focus and identify their research questions.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    (S.13) A third transition was the need to understand and adjust to the expectation of originality and criticality in doctoral level work. Many students noted that their edu- cational backgrounds had trained them to describe and replicate knowledge rather than to create it.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 6

    These students strongly emphasised the enormous challenge of studying in English. For them, social interaction and academic study initially demanded a huge effort which created stress and anxiety because of the extra time and energy that every task required.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 9

    Much of their discussion focused on the personal devel- opment that stemmed from adaptation to a new country as well as academic development as a result of their stu- dies. Many noted that their confidence and their ability to manage their life and work independently had grown tremendously.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    Studies in Higher Education 2005, 30(2) :137-154. 37. Lovitts B: The transition to independent research: who makes it, who doesn ’ t and why. The Journal of Higher Education 2008, 79(3) :296-325. 38. Goode J: Empowering or disempowering the international PhD student?

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted in 2008/09 with 17 international doctoral nursing students representing 9 different countries from 6 different UK universities. Data were analysed thematically.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 3

    The study employed semi-structured inter- views to give primacy to students ’ own perspectives and to the uniqueness of their individual experience [27,28]. A cross-sectional design was adopted whereby each par- ticipant was interviewed once at a particular point in their doctoral journey.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    headings, or guidelines, I thought it was like, just a total programme......... I didn ’ t think it would be pure research, just by learning by yourself (S.16) Likewise, many students (n = 13) noted that they had expected a greater focus on professional nursing issues within their programme and

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    were surprised at the almost exclusive emphasis on research. Some students had expected to undertake clinically-oriented specialist courses alongside clinical practice, as was their experi- ence from their own countries: Clinical theory it ’ s more important, it ’ s like we already told our Dean of

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    the department here - we need it because we come here and you can find noth- ing. There is always a gap between your theory and the practice. And why we do PhD but we don ’ t have clinical experience? It ’ s so tricky you know; you know it ’ s a problem but you still not operate.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 10

    Discussion This study has identified five factors associated with doctoral study in the UK that affected the nature of the learning experience for overseas doctoral nursing students. First, there was a gap between students ’ expectations of PhD study and the reality that they encountered.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    Silverman D: Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction London: Sage; 1993. 34. Boyatzis R: Transforming qualitative information: thematic analysis and code development London: Sage; 1998. 35.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    Results: Studying for a UK PhD involved a number of significant transitions, including adjusting to a new country/ culture, to new pedagogical approaches and, in some cases, to learning in a second language.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    Students did not always feel well integrated into their department ’ s wider research environment, and wanted more opportunities to network with their UK peers.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 8

    The academic transitions and chal- lenges took place in the context of adjustment to leaving home and learning to live in a new country and culture. Thus, many participants described struggling with lone- liness, isolation and the cost of living in the UK: Sometimes you feel you are an alien here.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 8

    How to say? The world feels upside down. I am away from my home country, from my family. I feel very lonely because I come from an extended family with many people living with me, so I found staying alone in this country is very difficult.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 8

    Here you are totally in Table 4 Challenges and achievements during the PhD journey Challenges Achievements • Stress • Increased confidence • Anxiety • Opened eyes • Self-doubt • New ways of thinking • Homesickness • Increased self-esteem • Suffering • Independence • Financial

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 10

    Discussion This study has identified five factors associated with doctoral study in the UK that affected the nature of the learning experience for overseas doctoral nursing students. First, there was a gap between students ’ expectations of PhD study and the reality that they encountered.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    Constructions of the dependent and independent learner. British Journal of Sociology of Education 2007, 28(5) :589-603. 39. Carroll J, Ryan J: Teaching international students: improving learning for all London: Routledge; 2005. 40.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 3

    dent group. Methods Research Design and Methodology The study adopted a descriptive qualitative approach. A descriptive approach is considered appropriate when the features of particular phenomenon are not yet well understood.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 3

    The research adopted a construc- tivist methodological approach [29], recognising that students ’ accounts of their learning experiences were socially constructed, reflecting their own unique lives and backgrounds and reinterpreted for a researcher dur- ing the interview process.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    headings, or guidelines, I thought it was like, just a total programme......... I didn ’ t think it would be pure research, just by learning by yourself (S.16) Likewise, many students (n = 13) noted that they had expected a greater focus on professional nursing issues within their programme and

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    were surprised at the almost exclusive emphasis on research. Some students had expected to undertake clinically-oriented specialist courses alongside clinical practice, as was their experi- ence from their own countries: Clinical theory it ’ s more important, it ’ s like we already told our Dean of

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    the department here - we need it because we come here and you can find noth- ing. There is always a gap between your theory and the practice. And why we do PhD but we don ’ t have clinical experience? It ’ s so tricky you know; you know it ’ s a problem but you still not operate.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 11

    Limitations The most significant limitation of this research is its cross-sectional design which provided only a snap-shot of student views at a particular point in time, and in so doing limited the conceptualization of the PhD as a long term learning process.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    Silverman D: Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction London: Sage; 1993. 34. Boyatzis R: Transforming qualitative information: thematic analysis and code development London: Sage; 1998. 35.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    A good supervision relationship was perceived as the most critical element of support in a doctoral programme, but good relationships were sometimes difficult to attain due to differences in student/supervisor expectations and in approaches to supervision.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 1

    The PhD was perceived as a difficult and stressful journey, but those nearing the end reflected positively on it as a life changing experience in which they had developed key professional and personal skills.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 5

    Many participants found this extremely difficult, especially in the first year, when they were try- ing to find a focus and identify their research questions.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 6

    These students strongly emphasised the enormous challenge of studying in English. For them, social interaction and academic study initially demanded a huge effort which created stress and anxiety because of the extra time and energy that every task required.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 7

    Interestingly, although students clearly valued particular supervisory characteristics such as being knowledgeable or accessible, the most highly valued supervisory attri- bute was the demonstration of a personalised student- centred approach.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 10

    Discussion This study has identified five factors associated with doctoral study in the UK that affected the nature of the learning experience for overseas doctoral nursing students. First, there was a gap between students ’ expectations of PhD study and the reality that they encountered.

  • The experience of international nursing students studying for a PhD in the U.K: A qualitative study · PDF page 13

    qualitative study. BMC Nursing 2011 10 :11. Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Central and take full advantage of: • Convenient online submission • Thorough peer review • No space constraints or color figure charges • Immediate publication on acceptance • Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and

• “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · Used in the synthesis

  Cited by supported judgments in: Peer and social support networks; Institutional and policy environments

  Inspect 52 sources

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    Participants and Recruitment Doctoral students were recruited from one university department in the south of England using convenience sampling. Recruitment took place from 1 st June 2023–31 st August 2023.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 4

    Participants’ ages ranged from 24 to 66 years (Mean: 32.5, SD = 10.8), with a majority identifying as female (68.4%).

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 4

    Participants were majority White British (n = 11), but other participants self- identified as from other White background (n = 3), Chinese (n = 3), any other Asian background (n = 3), African (n = 1), or did not state their ethnicity (n = 1).

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325726 June 9, 2025 8 / 15 Another participant illustrated the significance of shared experiences with a personal instance from their doctoral studies: “ I know my friends who don’t do PhDs think I’m crazy because I do cells.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 9

    (PP5) It was felt that advice and signposting would be particularly helpful for international students, who may lack information about navigating healthcare systems: “I need some vaccination…but I have no idea how I can get that vaccine in the UK.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 10

    Many noted that a one-size-fits-all approach does not account for the unique challenges faced by students with different personal, cultural, and academic circum - stances.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 14

    Writing – original draft: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret. Writing – review & editing: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret, Emily Davey, Tom King, Anna Roach, Millie Wagstaff, Tom G.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 1

    * fiona.newlands.18@ucl.ac.uk Abstract Doctoral (PhD) students experience high rates of mental health challenges, including high rates of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and isolation.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 2

    Evidence suggests they are up to six times more likely to experience anxiety and depression compared to the general population [ 3 ], with risks remaining elevated even when compared with age-matched groups [ 2 ].

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 2

    Doctoral students frequently report high levels of loneliness and isolation, often due to the siloed nature of their work and the unique pressures associated with doctoral studies [ 4 ].

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    Then, I’ll come back home and be like crying because all my cells have got contaminated and [I would] not have people that understand what it means. Because it’s two months of work for me that I’ve lost, but only someone who does what I do, would understand what it would mean .”

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    Participants noted that there were specific times during their studies during which they were more likely to experience significant stress and uncertainty, such as upgrades and viva examinations.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 11

    Peer support, as described by participants, offers a flexible, inclusive, and relatable option that may help reduce barriers to accessing support. One key theme identified from the focus groups and interviews was the importance of shared experiences in peer relationships.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 14

    Writing – original draft: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret. Writing – review & editing: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret, Emily Davey, Tom King, Anna Roach, Millie Wagstaff, Tom G.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    Data collection Data were collected through a combination of focus groups and semi-structured interviews. Participants were assigned to focus groups based on their availability.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    Focus groups lasted between 1 hour 43 minutes and 1 hour 50 with an average of 1 hour 47 minutes. Interviews ranged from 30 minutes to 1 hour with an average of 41 minutes. All focus groups and interviews were audio-recorded and later transcribed verbatim.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    Identifying information was anonymised to ensure participant confidentiality. Analysis Participant characteristics are described in the Results section. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, following Braun and Clarke’s framework [ 18 , 19 ].

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325726 June 9, 2025 8 / 15 Another participant illustrated the significance of shared experiences with a personal instance from their doctoral studies: “ I know my friends who don’t do PhDs think I’m crazy because I do cells.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 2

    Defined as the social and emotional support offered by an individual in equal standing [ 12 ], this approach provides accessible and often less formal support [ 13 ].

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 2

    Unlike traditional mental health services, peer support programmes leverage the shared experiences of students navigating similar challenges.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 2

    This is especially important in the context of doctoral students, where isolation and loneli - ness are key factors contributing to mental health difficulties [ 6 ].

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    (PP16) Some participants advocated for a ‘buddy system’ approach to peer support, whereby peers are paired based on similar experiences or academic pursuits. They believed this approach would create a shared connection, as “ really what you’re looking for is a buddy ” (PP10). 2.2. Informal nature.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 9

    (PP2) Participants discussed how they would benefit from speaking to an empathetic and supportive peer supporter: “Yeah, I guess communication skills would be really important. Empathy and active listening, summarising, reflecting.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 11

    For instance, one participant illustrated how conventional training on topics such as active lis - tening might not be suitable for neurodiverse students: “ I used to work with children with autism, ADHD and [...]

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 14

    Writing – original draft: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret. Writing – review & editing: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret, Emily Davey, Tom King, Anna Roach, Millie Wagstaff, Tom G.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    This framework was chosen as it supports a rigorous and transparent

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 4

    These codes were then grouped into potential themes, which were iteratively reviewed, refined, and organised into overarching themes. The analysis was conducted using NVivo software to assist with coding and theme development.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 4

    Two MSc students (TM and IP) independently coded the data, and discrep - ancies were resolved through discussion and comparison. Themes were further validated by cross-checking with other members of the research team to ensure consistency and credibility.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    (PP7) Theme 3: Peer supporter role Throughout the interviews and focus groups, participants identified key characteristics and qualities they would value in a peer supporter, such as practical problem-solving abilities, empathy, and active listening skills.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 11

    Discussion This study explored doctoral students’ perspectives on peer support and how it could be adapted to meet their specific needs.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 13

    Limitations and future research A limitation of this study is its focus on a single department and one university, which may limit the generalisability of find - ings.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 14

    Writing – original draft: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret. Writing – review & editing: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret, Emily Davey, Tom King, Anna Roach, Millie Wagstaff, Tom G.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 1

    Findings indicate that doctoral students value peer support as a flexible, informal space to share experiences and gain advice from those with similar backgrounds.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 1

    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.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 7

    (PP6) Theme 2: Value of peer support for doctoral students Despite barriers to accessing formal support, participants highlighted numerous benefits and opportunities provided by peer support.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    (PP3) Peer support offered a space where students could express themselves freely, making it easier to discuss challenges in a way that felt natural and supportive. 2.3. Guidance around specific doctoral time points.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 9

    Why would a PhD student just off their own back do that when they’ve got all the other stresses that they have?

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 10

    (PP17) Theme 4: Diversity and accessibility In discussing peer support, participants highlighted the critical need for diverse and accessible support structures that cater to the varied backgrounds, needs, and schedules of doctoral students.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 14

    Writing – original draft: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret. Writing – review & editing: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret, Emily Davey, Tom King, Anna Roach, Millie Wagstaff, Tom G.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    Participants and Recruitment Doctoral students were recruited from one university department in the south of England using convenience sampling. Recruitment took place from 1 st June 2023–31 st August 2023.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    Focus groups and interviews were conducted via MS Teams. Focus groups were facilitated in pairs by the doctoral students who were co-investigators on the study. TK co-facilitated two focus groups. FN, ED, AR and MW all co-facilitated one focus group.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    This framework was chosen as it supports a rigorous and transparent

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 13

    The use of convenience sampling to recruit participants may have introduced selection bias, as those with particu - larly negative experiences or struggles may have been more motivated to participate. Findings may over-represent the perspectives of students experiencing greater challenges.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 11

    Discussion This study explored doctoral students’ perspectives on peer support and how it could be adapted to meet their specific needs.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 10

    Participants highlighted a strong preference for flexible modalities to accommodate the diverse schedules and needs of doctoral students. Many participants advocated for hybrid delivery formats, allowing a choice between in-person and online sessions.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 1

    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.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 4

    Four overarching themes and thirteen subthemes were identified through thematic analysis: (1) Barriers to seeking sup - port; (2) Value of peer support for doctoral students; (3) Peer supporter role; and (4) Diversity and accessibility. See Fig 1 for a thematic map.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 1

    Findings indicate that doctoral students value peer support as a flexible, informal space to share experiences and gain advice from those with similar backgrounds.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 12

    Such support suggests peer support could prevent the development or deterioration of mental health problems.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 13

    Additionally, as the researchers and participants were all PhD students within the same wider department, it is possible that this shared context influenced how comfortable participants felt sharing their views, which may have shaped their responses.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 11

    (PP17) These findings highlight the critical need for diversity and accessibility in peer support structures for doctoral students.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 14

    Writing – original draft: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret. Writing – review & editing: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret, Emily Davey, Tom King, Anna Roach, Millie Wagstaff, Tom G.

• Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · Used in the synthesis

  Cited by supported judgments in: Peer and social support networks; Institutional and policy environments

  Inspect 33 sources

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 1

    Methods: This qualitative study was conducted over a period of six months, involving eleven in-depth interviews with medical and allied health sciences PhD scholars from nine universities across Pakistan using a qualitative phenomenology approach.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    The study involved eleven doctoral candidates (two males and nine females) from various disciplines. Two participants were from Anatomy, four from Public Health, two from Medical Education, one from Dental Materials, one from Public Health Nutrition, and one from Oral Biology.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    These disciplines primarily represent basic medical sciences, public health, and dental sciences. Ethics approval: Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the University Ethics Committee of Khyber Medical University (Ref No: 7-1/IHPER/PhD- HPE/KMU/23-04, dated May 24, 2023).

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 5

    Pak J Med Sci May 2025 Vol. 41 No. 5 www.pjms.org.pk 1406 Table-I: Themes, Subthemes, Codes, and Quotes related to Well-being of PhD Scholars Themes Sub-themes Codes Quotes 1.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    Participants: PhD scholars enrolled in medical and allied health science at different universities in Pakistan were invited to participate who have at least completed their coursework of the PhD program to ensure that participants have faced core academic pressures and transitioned from controlled

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    learning to autonomous research, which often presents distinct well-being issues. By this stage, they have experienced academic pressures, supervisory dynamics, and institutional expectations, enabling them to offer detailed insights into the factors affecting their well-being.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    The purposive sampling technique was used to select the participants for this research. Of the eleven, three participants were in their second year of PhD studies, focusing on the development of their research synopsis, five participants in the third year engaged in data collection, while three

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 5

    Pak J Med Sci May 2025 Vol. 41 No. 5 www.pjms.org.pk 1406 Table-I: Themes, Subthemes, Codes, and Quotes related to Well-being of PhD Scholars Themes Sub-themes Codes Quotes 1.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    All individuals participated voluntarily, and confidentiality was maintained by ensuring their anonymity. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven PhD scholars enrolled in medical and allied health sciences from nine universities across Pakistan, based on data saturation.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 3

    To maintain confidentiality, each scholar was allocated a distinct code name (e.g., Participant A, Participant B) in the order of the interviews. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis: The data were analysed manually with an inductive approach.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 3

    The transcribed data, written notes, and audio recordings were meticulously reviewed to enhance familiarity with the topic. Initial codes were allocated to key elements in the raw data to enable meaningful interpretation.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 1

    Results: Five main themes, accompanied by ten sub-themes, have been developed based on the socioecological theoretical framework, aligning with the key findings from eleven in-depth interviews.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    14 Five themes have been developed based on the socioecological theoretical framework at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy levels. Five main themes were accompanied by ten supporting sub-themes (Fig.1) and sixty-nine codes in the final analysis (Table-I).

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    Participants who had recently completed their coursework and were engaged in developing their synopses primarily identified challenges associated with the transition from structured coursework to independent research.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 5

    Pak J Med Sci May 2025 Vol. 41 No. 5 www.pjms.org.pk 1406 Table-I: Themes, Subthemes, Codes, and Quotes related to Well-being of PhD Scholars Themes Sub-themes Codes Quotes 1.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    The interview guide was designed as a semi-structured tool to explore key aspects of PhD scholars’ well-being, including the concept and dimensions of well-being, factors affecting well-being, the role of the support system, academic challenges, supervisory relationships, institutional

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    All individuals participated voluntarily, and confidentiality was maintained by ensuring their anonymity. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven PhD scholars enrolled in medical and allied health sciences from nine universities across Pakistan, based on data saturation.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 3

    The transcribed data, written notes, and audio recordings were meticulously reviewed to enhance familiarity with the topic. Initial codes were allocated to key elements in the raw data to enable meaningful interpretation.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 5

    Pak J Med Sci May 2025 Vol. 41 No. 5 www.pjms.org.pk 1406 Table-I: Themes, Subthemes, Codes, and Quotes related to Well-being of PhD Scholars Themes Sub-themes Codes Quotes 1.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    Theme-1: Well-being of PhD scholars at the Individual Level Subtheme: Mental, Physical, and Emotional Well- being: Mental, physical, and emotional well-being were essential components of a PhD scholar’s overall well- being, each vital for cultivating resilience in adversity.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    (Participant G) Theme-2: Well-being of PhD scholars at the Interpersonal Level Subthemes: Supervisor and Peer Support: Supervisor and peer support are essential for PhD scholars, influencing both academic achievement and overall well-being.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    Administrative support, encompassing streamlined procedures for course registration, prompt responses, and transparent communication of requirements, alleviates the administrative strain on scholars.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 5

    Pak J Med Sci May 2025 Vol. 41 No. 5 www.pjms.org.pk 1406 Table-I: Themes, Subthemes, Codes, and Quotes related to Well-being of PhD Scholars Themes Sub-themes Codes Quotes 1.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 1

    Purposive sampling was employed to recruit participants, and an interview guide was developed after critically appraising the literature, feedback from medical education experts, and a pilot test. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the data.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    The purposive sampling technique was used to select the participants for this research. Of the eleven, three participants were in their second year of PhD studies, focusing on the development of their research synopsis, five participants in the third year engaged in data collection, while three

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 3

    The transcribed data, written notes, and audio recordings were meticulously reviewed to enhance familiarity with the topic. Initial codes were allocated to key elements in the raw data to enable meaningful interpretation.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 5

    Pak J Med Sci May 2025 Vol. 41 No. 5 www.pjms.org.pk 1406 Table-I: Themes, Subthemes, Codes, and Quotes related to Well-being of PhD Scholars Themes Sub-themes Codes Quotes 1.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 1

    Results: Five main themes, accompanied by ten sub-themes, have been developed based on the socioecological theoretical framework, aligning with the key findings from eleven in-depth interviews.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    14 Five themes have been developed based on the socioecological theoretical framework at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy levels. Five main themes were accompanied by ten supporting sub-themes (Fig.1) and sixty-nine codes in the final analysis (Table-I).

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    Participants who had recently completed their coursework and were engaged in developing their synopses primarily identified challenges associated with the transition from structured coursework to independent research.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 7

    Limitations: This study has some limitations, as the findings depend on the experience of study participants, which may not reflect the diversity of obstacles faced by PhD scholars in various academic disciplines or geographic regions.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 7

    Additionally, the responses of participants may be influenced by potential biases in self-reporting, as certain scholars may either overstate or understate their experiences.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 7

    Lastly, the study emphasizes the perspectives of currently enrolled scholars, neglecting the perspectives of those who have completed or discontinued their PhDs, who may offer valuable insights into the long-term well-being of PhD scholars.

To analyze how doctoral researchers describe institutional and policy environments affecting stress and wellbeing, and the support they perceive as helpful or difficult to access.

• Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · Used in the synthesis

  Cited by supported judgments in: Supervisory relationships as critical supports or stressors; Institutional and policy environments; Systemic and individual manifestations of stress and coping

  Inspect 63 sources

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 1

    Method : This study was conducted by a qualitative method employing the Grounded Theory. Through purposive sampling, 10 Chinese PhD students were selected on the basis of theoretical sampling, and data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the participants.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    Participant ’ s code Age Gender Period of PhD training Relationship status No. 1 26 Male 1st Year PhD Student Single No. 2 27 Female 1 st Year PhD Student Single No. 3 28 Male 2 nd Year PhD Student Married No. 4 32 Female 2 nd Year PhD Student Single No.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    5 29 Female 3 rd Year PhD Student Single No. 6 42 Male 3 rd Year PhD Student Married No. 7 48 Male 4 th Year PhD Student Married No. 8 36 Female 4 th Year PhD Student Married No. 9 40 Female 5 th Year PhD Student Married No.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    PhD is hard, and getting harder, as universities attach greater importance to the domestic ranking which is mostly based on research quality and revenue (e.g., the number of projects at national level and publications in core periodicals).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    In accordance with the procedures and criteria for the conferral of a doctoral degree widely applicable in almost all institutions of higher education in China, doctoral degree is conferred on two conditions, i.e., (1) a thesis of no less than 100,000 words, which should be independently

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    developed and publicly defended, containing original research results and new insights in their respective fields or subfields; and (2) at least two articles published or accepted for publication in core periodicals in the fields related to their major (i.e., core periodicals listed in Chinese

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    All participants, recruited from seven uni- versities in three provinces in China, were majoring in humanities and social science.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 1

    Conclusion : Chinese PhD students experienced stress from a variety of sources, corroborating with and reinforcing previous research findings.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    The GT emerging from the data is considered to be at substantive level as suggested by Glaser and Strauss (1967), for the explanations we have derived for psycho- logical stress apply specifically to Chinese PhD students (majoring in social science) in the setting that we stu- died.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    separately or collectively (see Figure 1). Graduation In China, full-time doctorate program is normally designed to be completed in 3 years, but the program duration of a professional doctorate is rather flexible, i.e., comprising a minimum of 3 years full-time-equivalent (FTE) study and a

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    PhD is hard, and getting harder, as universities attach greater importance to the domestic ranking which is mostly based on research quality and revenue (e.g., the number of projects at national level and publications in core periodicals).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    help from supervisors. At a time when publication output has become a mile- stone for academic selection and promotion (e.g., conferring of all academic titles), access to future research funding, or professional development oppor- tunities in institutions of higher education in China, it is really

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 6

    Interviews revealed that stu- dents had a varying spectrum of motivation for choosing PhD program, e.g., to find a job in out- standing institutions of higher education, research institutes or prominent institutions or corporations, get promotion, receive a pay raise, etc., consequently to

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    limited number of periodicals listed in CSSCI is completely out of proportion to the overwhelming number of people desperate for publication; Another reason is that the aca- demic community is not fully immune to problems such as bias and discrimination, as is evidenced by an implicit or unspoken

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    From 2007 on, the number of students enrolled in a PhD has maintained at 50,000 per year, a striking increase compared with 18 PhD stu- dents in 1979 when PhD candidates in China were enrolled for the first time; Meanwhile, personal factors also count.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    Factors such as gender, social status, and social connections or networks will influence the extent to which students get bullied; Further, non-supportive family or companion, as well as intense roommate relationship also contribute to PhD stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    These semi-structured, in-depth interviews varied in length from 30 min to nearly 1 h and were audio recorded, then each interview was allocated a number to its transcript.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    The interviews were conducted in Chinese and translated in English, then back-translation method was used to ensure linguistic equivalency of instru- ments before and after translation (Brislin, Lonner, & Thorndike, 1973).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    The interview transcripts were com- pared with each other for common words, phrases, and concepts through constant comparative method.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 6

    Interviews revealed that stu- dents had a varying spectrum of motivation for choosing PhD program, e.g., to find a job in out- standing institutions of higher education, research institutes or prominent institutions or corporations, get promotion, receive a pay raise, etc., consequently to

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 7

    Some supervisors sometimes were aca- demically enabling and supportive, for example, help- ing set out schedules for paper or thesis writing, but the interviews revealed that more often, supervisors were also bullies.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Discussion As is revealed from the data, the triggers for PhD stress were diverse and complex. The participants interpreted or dictated their own ascription of what caused their stress, and all participants experienced at least one source of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 2

    In this study, stress is confined to negative emo- tional experiences that can make people feel exhausted and edgy, steal their focus, or leave them spending their nights sleepless and frantic, not includ- ing distress or psychological disorder in psycho-oncol- ogy literature as suggested by

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    The theory depicted vividly the nuanced nature of participants ’ experiences of stress. Although the partici- pants ’ individual circumstances varied to a certain degree, all of them deemed psychological stress as an indispensable experience which accompanies their lives as PhD students.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    Almost all students agreed that they were suffering or had suffered the common ailments known as PhD fatigue and PhD blues when choosing a subject satisfac- tion to themselves and their supervisors, as Participant No.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Discussion As is revealed from the data, the triggers for PhD stress were diverse and complex. The participants interpreted or dictated their own ascription of what caused their stress, and all participants experienced at least one source of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Apprehension at not completing the PhD program on time was described by all the participants as the most important factor stressing them out, which echoes the research findings by Elisabeth Pain (2017). This stress is closely related to academic policy, personal factors, and supervisor guidance.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    Participants in this study described stress as a sali- ent experience closely related to their interpersonal relationships (with family members, class mates, supervisors, etc.), identity development, and career decision-making processes, etc.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    of most PhD students, consequently, stress or anxiety results. These findings corroborate with previous research findings (e.g., Levecque et al., 2017); Relationship crisis is even more tricky.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    Data collection and analysis We interviewed the participants individually in private places at different time in the past 12 months, by asking them open-ended questions in a face-to-face manner.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    These semi-structured, in-depth interviews varied in length from 30 min to nearly 1 h and were audio recorded, then each interview was allocated a number to its transcript.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    The interviews were conducted in Chinese and translated in English, then back-translation method was used to ensure linguistic equivalency of instru- ments before and after translation (Brislin, Lonner, & Thorndike, 1973).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    3 put it, “… my supervisor wanted me to choose a subject which could sustain interest for several years … I have to spend days alone in front of my computer, surf- ing the internet. Now, 5 months have passed, the topic is not as gripping as initially believed.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 6

    Interviews revealed that stu- dents had a varying spectrum of motivation for choosing PhD program, e.g., to find a job in out- standing institutions of higher education, research institutes or prominent institutions or corporations, get promotion, receive a pay raise, etc., consequently to

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 7

    Some supervisors sometimes were aca- demically enabling and supportive, for example, help- ing set out schedules for paper or thesis writing, but the interviews revealed that more often, supervisors were also bullies.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    The results revealed that the concepts of causes for psycho- logical stress converged into four core categories, i.e., graduation, job prospects, relationship and other fac- tors, and each category contained its subcategories and properties, making contributing triggers for psychologi- cal stress,

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    separately or collectively (see Figure 1). Graduation In China, full-time doctorate program is normally designed to be completed in 3 years, but the program duration of a professional doctorate is rather flexible, i.e., comprising a minimum of 3 years full-time-equivalent (FTE) study and a

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    Final Coding System. Category Subcategory Codes Graduation article publication supervisor ’ s omission; publication policy; excess demands; personal reasons thesis writing time limit; course loads; supervisor ’ s omission; thesis proposal; oral defence; spot-checking; personal reasons; etc.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    It really drove me crazy. ” Students would be in possibly a more desperate situation when their supervisors gave no or little advice for revision and merely refused to let them stand for a defence.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    Feeling extre- mely exhausted and suffering from severe insomnia, she was considering withdrawing from the PhD program.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    said, “ I am not well-prepared for the PhD study, not recognizing that it is so hard to get articles published and complete the thesis, although I had full knowl- edge of the Doctorate Conferral requirements when I began the PhD program.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    Anyway, these findings indicate that stress or anxiety is prevalent in PhD students; so, there is a real need for PhD programs to actively support candidates completing timely PhDs.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    Our data also reveal that stress is more prominent among female students, corroborating with previous research findings (e.g., Gu, Levin, & Luo, 2017; Morse & Dravo, 2007).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 2

    So, the infor- mants were selected based on purposive sampling and willingness to participate. An effort was made to interview two PhD students, one male and one female, in the first and third year of study respectively. The pilot study to explore their experiences was conducted in early 2017.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    at the outset of the study, subsequently, theoretical sampling was adopted until theoretical saturation of the main body of data occurred (Charmaz, 2014). The Demographic characteristics of the participants are depicted in Table I.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    Two strategies proposed by Creswell (2007) were employed to establish credibility of the data: (1) mem- ber checking, i.e., the participants were provided with the data or interpretations of the results to verify the accuracy based on their experiences; and (2) peer review, i.e., two external

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 7

    Other factors During the process of axial coding, we found some sub-categories overlapping and converging. Some factors were not uniformly applicable to all the parti- cipants, namely, only part of the participants claimed these factors to be the sources of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Discussion As is revealed from the data, the triggers for PhD stress were diverse and complex. The participants interpreted or dictated their own ascription of what caused their stress, and all participants experienced at least one source of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Apprehension at not completing the PhD program on time was described by all the participants as the most important factor stressing them out, which echoes the research findings by Elisabeth Pain (2017). This stress is closely related to academic policy, personal factors, and supervisor guidance.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    All participants, recruited from seven uni- versities in three provinces in China, were majoring in humanities and social science.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    The results revealed that the concepts of causes for psycho- logical stress converged into four core categories, i.e., graduation, job prospects, relationship and other fac- tors, and each category contained its subcategories and properties, making contributing triggers for psychologi- cal stress,

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    To some participants, one single factor could account for their stress; but to most participants, their problem should be understood as reflecting a complex set of triggers that combine aspects of more than two explanations.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    And the more stressors they experienced, the more stressed they tended to feel, i.e., the interactions among these factors severely increased their degree of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Apprehension at not completing the PhD program on time was described by all the participants as the most important factor stressing them out, which echoes the research findings by Elisabeth Pain (2017). This stress is closely related to academic policy, personal factors, and supervisor guidance.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    The requirement of publica- tion of two articles in core periodicals is intended to promote the quality of doctoral education for prepar- ing students to participate in research cultures, based on the idea that some pressure to produce cutting- edge research is necessary to motivate scholars early

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 6

    China and appointed at a higher level, or even at full professor level immediately. Further, female PhD students were more stressed than their male counterparts, for fear of gender dis- crimination in job seeking.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    Relatedly, the first limitation of this study is that data collection at such a time may have heightened sensitivity to experiences related to stress for PhD students and influenced partici- pants ’ responses; The second limitation involves sampling.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    All participants, recruited from seven uni- versities in three provinces in China, were majoring in humanities and social science.

• “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · Used in the synthesis

  Cited by supported judgments in: Peer and social support networks; Institutional and policy environments

  Inspect 52 sources

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    Participants and Recruitment Doctoral students were recruited from one university department in the south of England using convenience sampling. Recruitment took place from 1 st June 2023–31 st August 2023.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 4

    Participants’ ages ranged from 24 to 66 years (Mean: 32.5, SD = 10.8), with a majority identifying as female (68.4%).

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 4

    Participants were majority White British (n = 11), but other participants self- identified as from other White background (n = 3), Chinese (n = 3), any other Asian background (n = 3), African (n = 1), or did not state their ethnicity (n = 1).

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325726 June 9, 2025 8 / 15 Another participant illustrated the significance of shared experiences with a personal instance from their doctoral studies: “ I know my friends who don’t do PhDs think I’m crazy because I do cells.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 9

    (PP5) It was felt that advice and signposting would be particularly helpful for international students, who may lack information about navigating healthcare systems: “I need some vaccination…but I have no idea how I can get that vaccine in the UK.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 10

    Many noted that a one-size-fits-all approach does not account for the unique challenges faced by students with different personal, cultural, and academic circum - stances.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 14

    Writing – original draft: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret. Writing – review & editing: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret, Emily Davey, Tom King, Anna Roach, Millie Wagstaff, Tom G.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 1

    * fiona.newlands.18@ucl.ac.uk Abstract Doctoral (PhD) students experience high rates of mental health challenges, including high rates of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and isolation.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 2

    Evidence suggests they are up to six times more likely to experience anxiety and depression compared to the general population [ 3 ], with risks remaining elevated even when compared with age-matched groups [ 2 ].

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 2

    Doctoral students frequently report high levels of loneliness and isolation, often due to the siloed nature of their work and the unique pressures associated with doctoral studies [ 4 ].

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    Then, I’ll come back home and be like crying because all my cells have got contaminated and [I would] not have people that understand what it means. Because it’s two months of work for me that I’ve lost, but only someone who does what I do, would understand what it would mean .”

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    Participants noted that there were specific times during their studies during which they were more likely to experience significant stress and uncertainty, such as upgrades and viva examinations.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 11

    Peer support, as described by participants, offers a flexible, inclusive, and relatable option that may help reduce barriers to accessing support. One key theme identified from the focus groups and interviews was the importance of shared experiences in peer relationships.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 14

    Writing – original draft: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret. Writing – review & editing: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret, Emily Davey, Tom King, Anna Roach, Millie Wagstaff, Tom G.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    Data collection Data were collected through a combination of focus groups and semi-structured interviews. Participants were assigned to focus groups based on their availability.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    Focus groups lasted between 1 hour 43 minutes and 1 hour 50 with an average of 1 hour 47 minutes. Interviews ranged from 30 minutes to 1 hour with an average of 41 minutes. All focus groups and interviews were audio-recorded and later transcribed verbatim.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    Identifying information was anonymised to ensure participant confidentiality. Analysis Participant characteristics are described in the Results section. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, following Braun and Clarke’s framework [ 18 , 19 ].

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325726 June 9, 2025 8 / 15 Another participant illustrated the significance of shared experiences with a personal instance from their doctoral studies: “ I know my friends who don’t do PhDs think I’m crazy because I do cells.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 2

    Defined as the social and emotional support offered by an individual in equal standing [ 12 ], this approach provides accessible and often less formal support [ 13 ].

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 2

    Unlike traditional mental health services, peer support programmes leverage the shared experiences of students navigating similar challenges.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 2

    This is especially important in the context of doctoral students, where isolation and loneli - ness are key factors contributing to mental health difficulties [ 6 ].

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    (PP16) Some participants advocated for a ‘buddy system’ approach to peer support, whereby peers are paired based on similar experiences or academic pursuits. They believed this approach would create a shared connection, as “ really what you’re looking for is a buddy ” (PP10). 2.2. Informal nature.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 9

    (PP2) Participants discussed how they would benefit from speaking to an empathetic and supportive peer supporter: “Yeah, I guess communication skills would be really important. Empathy and active listening, summarising, reflecting.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 11

    For instance, one participant illustrated how conventional training on topics such as active lis - tening might not be suitable for neurodiverse students: “ I used to work with children with autism, ADHD and [...]

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 14

    Writing – original draft: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret. Writing – review & editing: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret, Emily Davey, Tom King, Anna Roach, Millie Wagstaff, Tom G.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    This framework was chosen as it supports a rigorous and transparent

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 4

    These codes were then grouped into potential themes, which were iteratively reviewed, refined, and organised into overarching themes. The analysis was conducted using NVivo software to assist with coding and theme development.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 4

    Two MSc students (TM and IP) independently coded the data, and discrep - ancies were resolved through discussion and comparison. Themes were further validated by cross-checking with other members of the research team to ensure consistency and credibility.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    (PP7) Theme 3: Peer supporter role Throughout the interviews and focus groups, participants identified key characteristics and qualities they would value in a peer supporter, such as practical problem-solving abilities, empathy, and active listening skills.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 11

    Discussion This study explored doctoral students’ perspectives on peer support and how it could be adapted to meet their specific needs.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 13

    Limitations and future research A limitation of this study is its focus on a single department and one university, which may limit the generalisability of find - ings.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 14

    Writing – original draft: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret. Writing – review & editing: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret, Emily Davey, Tom King, Anna Roach, Millie Wagstaff, Tom G.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 1

    Findings indicate that doctoral students value peer support as a flexible, informal space to share experiences and gain advice from those with similar backgrounds.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 1

    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.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 7

    (PP6) Theme 2: Value of peer support for doctoral students Despite barriers to accessing formal support, participants highlighted numerous benefits and opportunities provided by peer support.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 8

    (PP3) Peer support offered a space where students could express themselves freely, making it easier to discuss challenges in a way that felt natural and supportive. 2.3. Guidance around specific doctoral time points.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 9

    Why would a PhD student just off their own back do that when they’ve got all the other stresses that they have?

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 10

    (PP17) Theme 4: Diversity and accessibility In discussing peer support, participants highlighted the critical need for diverse and accessible support structures that cater to the varied backgrounds, needs, and schedules of doctoral students.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 14

    Writing – original draft: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret. Writing – review & editing: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret, Emily Davey, Tom King, Anna Roach, Millie Wagstaff, Tom G.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    Participants and Recruitment Doctoral students were recruited from one university department in the south of England using convenience sampling. Recruitment took place from 1 st June 2023–31 st August 2023.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    Focus groups and interviews were conducted via MS Teams. Focus groups were facilitated in pairs by the doctoral students who were co-investigators on the study. TK co-facilitated two focus groups. FN, ED, AR and MW all co-facilitated one focus group.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 3

    This framework was chosen as it supports a rigorous and transparent

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 13

    The use of convenience sampling to recruit participants may have introduced selection bias, as those with particu - larly negative experiences or struggles may have been more motivated to participate. Findings may over-represent the perspectives of students experiencing greater challenges.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 11

    Discussion This study explored doctoral students’ perspectives on peer support and how it could be adapted to meet their specific needs.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 10

    Participants highlighted a strong preference for flexible modalities to accommodate the diverse schedules and needs of doctoral students. Many participants advocated for hybrid delivery formats, allowing a choice between in-person and online sessions.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 1

    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.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 4

    Four overarching themes and thirteen subthemes were identified through thematic analysis: (1) Barriers to seeking sup - port; (2) Value of peer support for doctoral students; (3) Peer supporter role; and (4) Diversity and accessibility. See Fig 1 for a thematic map.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 1

    Findings indicate that doctoral students value peer support as a flexible, informal space to share experiences and gain advice from those with similar backgrounds.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 12

    Such support suggests peer support could prevent the development or deterioration of mental health problems.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 13

    Additionally, as the researchers and participants were all PhD students within the same wider department, it is possible that this shared context influenced how comfortable participants felt sharing their views, which may have shaped their responses.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 11

    (PP17) These findings highlight the critical need for diversity and accessibility in peer support structures for doctoral students.

  • “A PhD is just going to somehow break you”: A qualitative study exploring the role of peer support for doctoral students · PDF page 14

    Writing – original draft: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret. Writing – review & editing: Fiona Newlands, Tanvi Markan, Isabelle Pomfret, Emily Davey, Tom King, Anna Roach, Millie Wagstaff, Tom G.

• Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · Used in the synthesis

  Cited by supported judgments in: Peer and social support networks; Institutional and policy environments

  Inspect 33 sources

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 1

    Methods: This qualitative study was conducted over a period of six months, involving eleven in-depth interviews with medical and allied health sciences PhD scholars from nine universities across Pakistan using a qualitative phenomenology approach.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    The study involved eleven doctoral candidates (two males and nine females) from various disciplines. Two participants were from Anatomy, four from Public Health, two from Medical Education, one from Dental Materials, one from Public Health Nutrition, and one from Oral Biology.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    These disciplines primarily represent basic medical sciences, public health, and dental sciences. Ethics approval: Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the University Ethics Committee of Khyber Medical University (Ref No: 7-1/IHPER/PhD- HPE/KMU/23-04, dated May 24, 2023).

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 5

    Pak J Med Sci May 2025 Vol. 41 No. 5 www.pjms.org.pk 1406 Table-I: Themes, Subthemes, Codes, and Quotes related to Well-being of PhD Scholars Themes Sub-themes Codes Quotes 1.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    Participants: PhD scholars enrolled in medical and allied health science at different universities in Pakistan were invited to participate who have at least completed their coursework of the PhD program to ensure that participants have faced core academic pressures and transitioned from controlled

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    learning to autonomous research, which often presents distinct well-being issues. By this stage, they have experienced academic pressures, supervisory dynamics, and institutional expectations, enabling them to offer detailed insights into the factors affecting their well-being.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    The purposive sampling technique was used to select the participants for this research. Of the eleven, three participants were in their second year of PhD studies, focusing on the development of their research synopsis, five participants in the third year engaged in data collection, while three

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 5

    Pak J Med Sci May 2025 Vol. 41 No. 5 www.pjms.org.pk 1406 Table-I: Themes, Subthemes, Codes, and Quotes related to Well-being of PhD Scholars Themes Sub-themes Codes Quotes 1.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    All individuals participated voluntarily, and confidentiality was maintained by ensuring their anonymity. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven PhD scholars enrolled in medical and allied health sciences from nine universities across Pakistan, based on data saturation.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 3

    To maintain confidentiality, each scholar was allocated a distinct code name (e.g., Participant A, Participant B) in the order of the interviews. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis: The data were analysed manually with an inductive approach.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 3

    The transcribed data, written notes, and audio recordings were meticulously reviewed to enhance familiarity with the topic. Initial codes were allocated to key elements in the raw data to enable meaningful interpretation.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 1

    Results: Five main themes, accompanied by ten sub-themes, have been developed based on the socioecological theoretical framework, aligning with the key findings from eleven in-depth interviews.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    14 Five themes have been developed based on the socioecological theoretical framework at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy levels. Five main themes were accompanied by ten supporting sub-themes (Fig.1) and sixty-nine codes in the final analysis (Table-I).

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    Participants who had recently completed their coursework and were engaged in developing their synopses primarily identified challenges associated with the transition from structured coursework to independent research.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 5

    Pak J Med Sci May 2025 Vol. 41 No. 5 www.pjms.org.pk 1406 Table-I: Themes, Subthemes, Codes, and Quotes related to Well-being of PhD Scholars Themes Sub-themes Codes Quotes 1.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    The interview guide was designed as a semi-structured tool to explore key aspects of PhD scholars’ well-being, including the concept and dimensions of well-being, factors affecting well-being, the role of the support system, academic challenges, supervisory relationships, institutional

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    All individuals participated voluntarily, and confidentiality was maintained by ensuring their anonymity. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven PhD scholars enrolled in medical and allied health sciences from nine universities across Pakistan, based on data saturation.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 3

    The transcribed data, written notes, and audio recordings were meticulously reviewed to enhance familiarity with the topic. Initial codes were allocated to key elements in the raw data to enable meaningful interpretation.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 5

    Pak J Med Sci May 2025 Vol. 41 No. 5 www.pjms.org.pk 1406 Table-I: Themes, Subthemes, Codes, and Quotes related to Well-being of PhD Scholars Themes Sub-themes Codes Quotes 1.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    Theme-1: Well-being of PhD scholars at the Individual Level Subtheme: Mental, Physical, and Emotional Well- being: Mental, physical, and emotional well-being were essential components of a PhD scholar’s overall well- being, each vital for cultivating resilience in adversity.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    (Participant G) Theme-2: Well-being of PhD scholars at the Interpersonal Level Subthemes: Supervisor and Peer Support: Supervisor and peer support are essential for PhD scholars, influencing both academic achievement and overall well-being.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    Administrative support, encompassing streamlined procedures for course registration, prompt responses, and transparent communication of requirements, alleviates the administrative strain on scholars.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 5

    Pak J Med Sci May 2025 Vol. 41 No. 5 www.pjms.org.pk 1406 Table-I: Themes, Subthemes, Codes, and Quotes related to Well-being of PhD Scholars Themes Sub-themes Codes Quotes 1.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 1

    Purposive sampling was employed to recruit participants, and an interview guide was developed after critically appraising the literature, feedback from medical education experts, and a pilot test. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the data.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 2

    The purposive sampling technique was used to select the participants for this research. Of the eleven, three participants were in their second year of PhD studies, focusing on the development of their research synopsis, five participants in the third year engaged in data collection, while three

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 3

    The transcribed data, written notes, and audio recordings were meticulously reviewed to enhance familiarity with the topic. Initial codes were allocated to key elements in the raw data to enable meaningful interpretation.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 5

    Pak J Med Sci May 2025 Vol. 41 No. 5 www.pjms.org.pk 1406 Table-I: Themes, Subthemes, Codes, and Quotes related to Well-being of PhD Scholars Themes Sub-themes Codes Quotes 1.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 1

    Results: Five main themes, accompanied by ten sub-themes, have been developed based on the socioecological theoretical framework, aligning with the key findings from eleven in-depth interviews.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    14 Five themes have been developed based on the socioecological theoretical framework at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy levels. Five main themes were accompanied by ten supporting sub-themes (Fig.1) and sixty-nine codes in the final analysis (Table-I).

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 4

    Participants who had recently completed their coursework and were engaged in developing their synopses primarily identified challenges associated with the transition from structured coursework to independent research.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 7

    Limitations: This study has some limitations, as the findings depend on the experience of study participants, which may not reflect the diversity of obstacles faced by PhD scholars in various academic disciplines or geographic regions.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 7

    Additionally, the responses of participants may be influenced by potential biases in self-reporting, as certain scholars may either overstate or understate their experiences.

  • Navigating the doctoral journey: A qualitative study on PhD scholars’ well-being in Pakistan · PDF page 7

    Lastly, the study emphasizes the perspectives of currently enrolled scholars, neglecting the perspectives of those who have completed or discontinued their PhDs, who may offer valuable insights into the long-term well-being of PhD scholars.

Analyze systemic and individual manifestations of stress and coping among doctoral researchers, focusing on how social, supervisory, and institutional contexts contribute to stress and what support is perceived as helpful or difficult to access.

• Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · Used in the synthesis

  Cited by supported judgments in: Supervisory relationships as critical supports or stressors; Institutional and policy environments; Systemic and individual manifestations of stress and coping

  Inspect 63 sources

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 1

    Method : This study was conducted by a qualitative method employing the Grounded Theory. Through purposive sampling, 10 Chinese PhD students were selected on the basis of theoretical sampling, and data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the participants.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    Participant ’ s code Age Gender Period of PhD training Relationship status No. 1 26 Male 1st Year PhD Student Single No. 2 27 Female 1 st Year PhD Student Single No. 3 28 Male 2 nd Year PhD Student Married No. 4 32 Female 2 nd Year PhD Student Single No.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    5 29 Female 3 rd Year PhD Student Single No. 6 42 Male 3 rd Year PhD Student Married No. 7 48 Male 4 th Year PhD Student Married No. 8 36 Female 4 th Year PhD Student Married No. 9 40 Female 5 th Year PhD Student Married No.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    PhD is hard, and getting harder, as universities attach greater importance to the domestic ranking which is mostly based on research quality and revenue (e.g., the number of projects at national level and publications in core periodicals).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    In accordance with the procedures and criteria for the conferral of a doctoral degree widely applicable in almost all institutions of higher education in China, doctoral degree is conferred on two conditions, i.e., (1) a thesis of no less than 100,000 words, which should be independently

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    developed and publicly defended, containing original research results and new insights in their respective fields or subfields; and (2) at least two articles published or accepted for publication in core periodicals in the fields related to their major (i.e., core periodicals listed in Chinese

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    All participants, recruited from seven uni- versities in three provinces in China, were majoring in humanities and social science.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 1

    Conclusion : Chinese PhD students experienced stress from a variety of sources, corroborating with and reinforcing previous research findings.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    The GT emerging from the data is considered to be at substantive level as suggested by Glaser and Strauss (1967), for the explanations we have derived for psycho- logical stress apply specifically to Chinese PhD students (majoring in social science) in the setting that we stu- died.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    separately or collectively (see Figure 1). Graduation In China, full-time doctorate program is normally designed to be completed in 3 years, but the program duration of a professional doctorate is rather flexible, i.e., comprising a minimum of 3 years full-time-equivalent (FTE) study and a

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    PhD is hard, and getting harder, as universities attach greater importance to the domestic ranking which is mostly based on research quality and revenue (e.g., the number of projects at national level and publications in core periodicals).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    help from supervisors. At a time when publication output has become a mile- stone for academic selection and promotion (e.g., conferring of all academic titles), access to future research funding, or professional development oppor- tunities in institutions of higher education in China, it is really

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 6

    Interviews revealed that stu- dents had a varying spectrum of motivation for choosing PhD program, e.g., to find a job in out- standing institutions of higher education, research institutes or prominent institutions or corporations, get promotion, receive a pay raise, etc., consequently to

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    limited number of periodicals listed in CSSCI is completely out of proportion to the overwhelming number of people desperate for publication; Another reason is that the aca- demic community is not fully immune to problems such as bias and discrimination, as is evidenced by an implicit or unspoken

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    From 2007 on, the number of students enrolled in a PhD has maintained at 50,000 per year, a striking increase compared with 18 PhD stu- dents in 1979 when PhD candidates in China were enrolled for the first time; Meanwhile, personal factors also count.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    Factors such as gender, social status, and social connections or networks will influence the extent to which students get bullied; Further, non-supportive family or companion, as well as intense roommate relationship also contribute to PhD stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    These semi-structured, in-depth interviews varied in length from 30 min to nearly 1 h and were audio recorded, then each interview was allocated a number to its transcript.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    The interviews were conducted in Chinese and translated in English, then back-translation method was used to ensure linguistic equivalency of instru- ments before and after translation (Brislin, Lonner, & Thorndike, 1973).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    The interview transcripts were com- pared with each other for common words, phrases, and concepts through constant comparative method.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 6

    Interviews revealed that stu- dents had a varying spectrum of motivation for choosing PhD program, e.g., to find a job in out- standing institutions of higher education, research institutes or prominent institutions or corporations, get promotion, receive a pay raise, etc., consequently to

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 7

    Some supervisors sometimes were aca- demically enabling and supportive, for example, help- ing set out schedules for paper or thesis writing, but the interviews revealed that more often, supervisors were also bullies.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Discussion As is revealed from the data, the triggers for PhD stress were diverse and complex. The participants interpreted or dictated their own ascription of what caused their stress, and all participants experienced at least one source of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 2

    In this study, stress is confined to negative emo- tional experiences that can make people feel exhausted and edgy, steal their focus, or leave them spending their nights sleepless and frantic, not includ- ing distress or psychological disorder in psycho-oncol- ogy literature as suggested by

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    The theory depicted vividly the nuanced nature of participants ’ experiences of stress. Although the partici- pants ’ individual circumstances varied to a certain degree, all of them deemed psychological stress as an indispensable experience which accompanies their lives as PhD students.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    Almost all students agreed that they were suffering or had suffered the common ailments known as PhD fatigue and PhD blues when choosing a subject satisfac- tion to themselves and their supervisors, as Participant No.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Discussion As is revealed from the data, the triggers for PhD stress were diverse and complex. The participants interpreted or dictated their own ascription of what caused their stress, and all participants experienced at least one source of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Apprehension at not completing the PhD program on time was described by all the participants as the most important factor stressing them out, which echoes the research findings by Elisabeth Pain (2017). This stress is closely related to academic policy, personal factors, and supervisor guidance.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    Participants in this study described stress as a sali- ent experience closely related to their interpersonal relationships (with family members, class mates, supervisors, etc.), identity development, and career decision-making processes, etc.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    of most PhD students, consequently, stress or anxiety results. These findings corroborate with previous research findings (e.g., Levecque et al., 2017); Relationship crisis is even more tricky.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    Data collection and analysis We interviewed the participants individually in private places at different time in the past 12 months, by asking them open-ended questions in a face-to-face manner.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    These semi-structured, in-depth interviews varied in length from 30 min to nearly 1 h and were audio recorded, then each interview was allocated a number to its transcript.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    The interviews were conducted in Chinese and translated in English, then back-translation method was used to ensure linguistic equivalency of instru- ments before and after translation (Brislin, Lonner, & Thorndike, 1973).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    3 put it, “… my supervisor wanted me to choose a subject which could sustain interest for several years … I have to spend days alone in front of my computer, surf- ing the internet. Now, 5 months have passed, the topic is not as gripping as initially believed.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 6

    Interviews revealed that stu- dents had a varying spectrum of motivation for choosing PhD program, e.g., to find a job in out- standing institutions of higher education, research institutes or prominent institutions or corporations, get promotion, receive a pay raise, etc., consequently to

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 7

    Some supervisors sometimes were aca- demically enabling and supportive, for example, help- ing set out schedules for paper or thesis writing, but the interviews revealed that more often, supervisors were also bullies.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    The results revealed that the concepts of causes for psycho- logical stress converged into four core categories, i.e., graduation, job prospects, relationship and other fac- tors, and each category contained its subcategories and properties, making contributing triggers for psychologi- cal stress,

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    separately or collectively (see Figure 1). Graduation In China, full-time doctorate program is normally designed to be completed in 3 years, but the program duration of a professional doctorate is rather flexible, i.e., comprising a minimum of 3 years full-time-equivalent (FTE) study and a

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    Final Coding System. Category Subcategory Codes Graduation article publication supervisor ’ s omission; publication policy; excess demands; personal reasons thesis writing time limit; course loads; supervisor ’ s omission; thesis proposal; oral defence; spot-checking; personal reasons; etc.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    It really drove me crazy. ” Students would be in possibly a more desperate situation when their supervisors gave no or little advice for revision and merely refused to let them stand for a defence.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 5

    Feeling extre- mely exhausted and suffering from severe insomnia, she was considering withdrawing from the PhD program.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    said, “ I am not well-prepared for the PhD study, not recognizing that it is so hard to get articles published and complete the thesis, although I had full knowl- edge of the Doctorate Conferral requirements when I began the PhD program.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    Anyway, these findings indicate that stress or anxiety is prevalent in PhD students; so, there is a real need for PhD programs to actively support candidates completing timely PhDs.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 9

    Our data also reveal that stress is more prominent among female students, corroborating with previous research findings (e.g., Gu, Levin, & Luo, 2017; Morse & Dravo, 2007).

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 2

    So, the infor- mants were selected based on purposive sampling and willingness to participate. An effort was made to interview two PhD students, one male and one female, in the first and third year of study respectively. The pilot study to explore their experiences was conducted in early 2017.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    at the outset of the study, subsequently, theoretical sampling was adopted until theoretical saturation of the main body of data occurred (Charmaz, 2014). The Demographic characteristics of the participants are depicted in Table I.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 3

    Two strategies proposed by Creswell (2007) were employed to establish credibility of the data: (1) mem- ber checking, i.e., the participants were provided with the data or interpretations of the results to verify the accuracy based on their experiences; and (2) peer review, i.e., two external

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 7

    Other factors During the process of axial coding, we found some sub-categories overlapping and converging. Some factors were not uniformly applicable to all the parti- cipants, namely, only part of the participants claimed these factors to be the sources of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Discussion As is revealed from the data, the triggers for PhD stress were diverse and complex. The participants interpreted or dictated their own ascription of what caused their stress, and all participants experienced at least one source of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Apprehension at not completing the PhD program on time was described by all the participants as the most important factor stressing them out, which echoes the research findings by Elisabeth Pain (2017). This stress is closely related to academic policy, personal factors, and supervisor guidance.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    All participants, recruited from seven uni- versities in three provinces in China, were majoring in humanities and social science.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    The results revealed that the concepts of causes for psycho- logical stress converged into four core categories, i.e., graduation, job prospects, relationship and other fac- tors, and each category contained its subcategories and properties, making contributing triggers for psychologi- cal stress,

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    To some participants, one single factor could account for their stress; but to most participants, their problem should be understood as reflecting a complex set of triggers that combine aspects of more than two explanations.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 4

    And the more stressors they experienced, the more stressed they tended to feel, i.e., the interactions among these factors severely increased their degree of stress.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    Apprehension at not completing the PhD program on time was described by all the participants as the most important factor stressing them out, which echoes the research findings by Elisabeth Pain (2017). This stress is closely related to academic policy, personal factors, and supervisor guidance.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 8

    The requirement of publica- tion of two articles in core periodicals is intended to promote the quality of doctoral education for prepar- ing students to participate in research cultures, based on the idea that some pressure to produce cutting- edge research is necessary to motivate scholars early

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 6

    China and appointed at a higher level, or even at full professor level immediately. Further, female PhD students were more stressed than their male counterparts, for fear of gender dis- crimination in job seeking.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    The qualitative nature of this study is contrib- utory to the merger but emerging body of literature on mental health crisis in graduate education by illuminat- ing the phenomenological experience of it among PhD students, and corroborates a number of anecdotal evi- dence, personal strategies or

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    Relatedly, the first limitation of this study is that data collection at such a time may have heightened sensitivity to experiences related to stress for PhD students and influenced partici- pants ’ responses; The second limitation involves sampling.

  • Towards the contributing factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students · PDF page 10

    All participants, recruited from seven uni- versities in three provinces in China, were majoring in humanities and social science.

• Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · Used in the synthesis

  Cited by supported judgments in: Supervisory relationships as critical supports or stressors; Systemic and individual manifestations of stress and coping

  Inspect 138 sources

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 2

    a clearly delineated sub-set, were studying at the doctoral level for a research degree (DRs or equiva- lent); and (4) the data collected related to mental health constructs.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 6

    Table 1 List of studies included in this review Sample size Scale Article Article type Method Total PhD n Male n Female n Other n Age M ( SD ) Universities Countries Lead country Acker et al. (2015) [36] P Qualitative 27 5 22 0 -( − ) Single Single Canada Appel et al.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 6

    (2003) [37] P Mixed 159 77 82 0 -( − ) Single Single Sweden Bauer (2016) [48] D Quantitative 118 28 90 0 -( − ) Multiple Single USA Bazrafkan et al. (2016) [41] P Qualitative – – – – 32(9) Multiple Single Iran Begun et al.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 6

    (2017) [49] P Mixed 281 219 60 2 38(9) Multiple Single USA Benjamin et al. (2017) [50] P Qualitative 29 11 18 0 -( − ) Multiple Single USA Benesek (1998) [51] D Quantitative 66 11 55 0 -( − ) Multiple Single USA Bireda (2015) [52] P Qualitative 5 0 5 0 -( − )

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 12

    Death of personhood A sacrifice of personal identity • Enmeshment of self-identity and PhD; ‘… this program and what I am doing is essentially my life and everything else revolves around me doing this [PhD]. ’ [59] (p. 10).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • DRs felt that the systemic encouragement of unhealthy lifestyles was tantamount to abuse; ‘ The abuse I experienced is hard to characterize, especially in a survey form.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • DRs reported feeling powerless and caught up in institutional values; ‘ It ’ s easy to drink the Kool-Aid here, to buy into the mantra that I must aim to be a

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    • Gendered and racial micropolitics were evident; ‘ So I think any student who wants to make a complaint or lodge anything formal, unless you're some white person who thinks or knows, hey, these institutions are here to serve me, then fine, let them go ahead.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    Seeing, being and becoming De-programming • DRs spoke of rejecting the belief they should sacrifice personal relationships and identities; ‘ One student in a male-dominated programme said she was not impressed by her advisor ’ s boasting of having only taken Christmas day off when he first began

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    purpose [81] and could lead to opting out of an aca- demic career [62, 74]. Isolation within the PhD was compounded by isolation from one ’ s personal relationships.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    This personal isolation was first physical, in which the laborious nature of the PhD acted as a catalyst for the breakdown of pre- existing relationships [76]. Moreover, DRs also experi- enced a sense of psychological detachment [45, 74].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    Thus, the experience of isolation appeared to be ex- tremely pervasive, with DRs feeling excluded and iso- lated physically and psychologically and across both their professional and personal lives.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    rise to a feeling of increased stress, pressure, role con- flicts, and a feeling of being unsafe. Seeing, being and becoming The higher-order theme of ‘ Seeing, being and becoming ’ reflects protective and transformative influences on DR mental health.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    The generalisability of our findings is limited largely due to the lack of research conducted outside of the US, but also because we limited our review to papers written in English only. The nature of doctoral stud- ies varies in important ways between studies.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 27

    any differences in the academic culture, are likely to affect the prevalence of mental health problems amongst DRs and the associated risk and protective factors. More research is needed outside of the US.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 2

    The aim of this systematic review is to bring attention specifically to the mental health of DRs by summarising the available evidence on this issue.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    Narration Prevalence Several studies reported DR mental health problem prevalence and this ranged from 36.30% [54] to 55.9% [67].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    One study compared prevalence amongst DRs and the gen- eral population, employees and other higher education students; in all instances, DRs had higher levels of psy- chological distress (non-clinical), and met criteria for a clinical psychiatric disorder more frequently [64].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 9

    The first two themes reflect individual risk/vulnerability factors and the processes implicated in the experience of mental distress, the third represents systemic risk and vulnerability factors and the final theme reflects individual and systemic protect- ive mechanisms and transformative

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    Ariunaa's decision to suppress her anxiety about her son may have been prompted by observing the ‘ care-less ’ (Lynch, 2010) culture of the academy which ‘ values … competitive … and individualistic practices ’ (Bansel, 2011, p. 552).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • Supervisors and the system were seen to promote an expectation of DR suffering; ‘ Katie mentioned a “ proactive ” approach to stress on multiple occasions throughout her interview; unfortunately, however, her portrayal of the prevailing attitudes within the doctoral learning environment was

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • The cycle of indigenousness of mental health problems was maintained by poor mental health literacy and lack of mental health and support provision; ‘ Caroline: “ I think we are afforded them [mental health services], I just haven ’ t taken advantage of it, even though I probably should have.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • DRs reported feeling powerless and caught up in institutional values; ‘ It ’ s easy to drink the Kool-Aid here, to buy into the mantra that I must aim to be a

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    scholarships, stipends, tuition remission, and fellowships. One student asked, “ So, how do they think people live? ” These concerns led to some very expressive reactions to leaders ’ suggestions concerning financial and budget-management counselling.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    Seeing, being and becoming De-programming • DRs spoke of rejecting the belief they should sacrifice personal relationships and identities; ‘ One student in a male-dominated programme said she was not impressed by her advisor ’ s boasting of having only taken Christmas day off when he first began

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    It ’ s not you, it ’ s me ‘ It ’ s not you, it ’ s me ’ reflects DRs ’ perfectionism as a central challenge of their PhD experi- ence and a contributor to their sense of psychological isolation from other people.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    DRs ’ perfectionism manifested in four key ways; firstly, in the overwhelming sense of responsibility experienced by DRs; secondly, in the tendency to position themselves as inadequate and inferior; thirdly, in cycles of perfectionist paralysis; and finally, in the tendency to find evidence which

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    confirms their assumed inferiority. DRs positioned themselves as solely responsible for their PhD and for the creation of a positive relationship with their supervisor [36, 52, 81].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    rise to a feeling of increased stress, pressure, role con- flicts, and a feeling of being unsafe. Seeing, being and becoming The higher-order theme of ‘ Seeing, being and becoming ’ reflects protective and transformative influences on DR mental health.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    The qualitative and quantitative findings presented here suggest that poor mental health is a pertinent prob- lem facing DRs; stress appears to be a key issue and sig- nificantly in excess of that experienced in the general population.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    Systemic factors DRs ’ attitudes towards their studies may be a product of top-down systemic issues in academia more broadly. Ex- periencing mental health problems was reported as be- ing the ‘ norm ’ , but also appeared to be understood as a sign of weakness.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    For ex- ample, in Europe, PhD studies usually apply for funding to complete their thesis within 3 – 4 years and must know their topic of interest at the application stage.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    Whereas in the US, PhD studies usually take between 5 and 6 years, involve taking classes and completing assignments, and the thesis topic evolves over the course of the PhD. These factors, as well as Hazell et al. Systematic Reviews (2020) 9:197 Page 26 of 30

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 1

    Systematic review registration: PROSPERO registration CRD42018092867 Keywords: Mental health, PhD students, doctoral researchers, Postgraduate researchers, Systematic review Background Student mental health has become a regular feature across media outlets in the United Kingdom (UK), with

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 6

    Table 1 List of studies included in this review Sample size Scale Article Article type Method Total PhD n Male n Female n Other n Age M ( SD ) Universities Countries Lead country Acker et al. (2015) [36] P Qualitative 27 5 22 0 -( − ) Single Single Canada Appel et al.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 6

    (2003) [37] P Mixed 159 77 82 0 -( − ) Single Single Sweden Bauer (2016) [48] D Quantitative 118 28 90 0 -( − ) Multiple Single USA Bazrafkan et al. (2016) [41] P Qualitative – – – – 32(9) Multiple Single Iran Begun et al.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    data did not pertain to mental health Fig. 2 A meta-analysis of between-group effect sizes (Cohen ’ s d ) comparing PSS scores (both 10- and 14-item versions) from DRs and normative population data.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 12

    Death of personhood A sacrifice of personal identity • Enmeshment of self-identity and PhD; ‘… this program and what I am doing is essentially my life and everything else revolves around me doing this [PhD]. ’ [59] (p. 10).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • DRs felt that the systemic encouragement of unhealthy lifestyles was tantamount to abuse; ‘ The abuse I experienced is hard to characterize, especially in a survey form.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • DRs reported feeling powerless and caught up in institutional values; ‘ It ’ s easy to drink the Kool-Aid here, to buy into the mantra that I must aim to be a

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    • De-programming from prioritising academia above all was associated with greater confidence, career commitment and motivation; ‘… students reported the greatest confidence and motivation when fac- ulty validated the importance of personal relationships and family matters, and helped students

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 17

    Chaotic, a lot of motion, and then in the foreground is a caravan moving through the desert and everything seems serene and ordered, and you see the stars and so much beauty.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • Feeing that supervisors believed in them scaffolded DRs sense of self-agency and motivation; ‘ Journey explained that his supervisors ’ trust in his ability

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    had given him the confidence to begin writing: J: when … you are a person from an environment that is not really value publication as it is here, and then you come to this place – R: – to compete on an even footing – J: Yes … I was very happy that my supervi- sors yeah they trust me, tried

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    to motivate me – ‘ Yes you can, you have experience ’ and … when we dis- cuss content-based knowledge, ah maybe they said – ‘ Yeah … you have ’ R: Mmm J: Then ah one of them at that time started to ask me to write a paper. I guess it's a kind of recognition that you … can do that.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 2

    Using a mixed methods approach, including meta- analysis and meta-synthesis, this review seeks to answer three research questions: (1) What is the prevalence of mental health difficulties amongst DRs? (2) What are the risk factors associated with poor mental health in DRs?

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    Narration Prevalence Several studies reported DR mental health problem prevalence and this ranged from 36.30% [54] to 55.9% [67].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    Risk factors Demographics Two studies reported no sig- nificant difference between males and females in terms of reported stress [57, 73], but the majority suggested fe- male DRs report greater clinical [80], and non-clinical problems with their mental health [37, 64, 79, 83, 89].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    Protective factors DRs who more strongly endorsed all of the five-factor personality traits (openness, conscien- tiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism) [66], self-reported higher academic achievement [40] and viewed their studies as a learning process (rather than a Fig.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 12

    Death of personhood A sacrifice of personal identity • Enmeshment of self-identity and PhD; ‘… this program and what I am doing is essentially my life and everything else revolves around me doing this [PhD]. ’ [59] (p. 10).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • DRs felt that the systemic encouragement of unhealthy lifestyles was tantamount to abuse; ‘ The abuse I experienced is hard to characterize, especially in a survey form.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • DRs reported feeling powerless and caught up in institutional values; ‘ It ’ s easy to drink the Kool-Aid here, to buy into the mantra that I must aim to be a

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    Seeing, being and becoming De-programming • DRs spoke of rejecting the belief they should sacrifice personal relationships and identities; ‘ One student in a male-dominated programme said she was not impressed by her advisor ’ s boasting of having only taken Christmas day off when he first began

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 17

    Chaotic, a lot of motion, and then in the foreground is a caravan moving through the desert and everything seems serene and ordered, and you see the stars and so much beauty.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    DRs ’ perfectionism manifested in four key ways; firstly, in the overwhelming sense of responsibility experienced by DRs; secondly, in the tendency to position themselves as inadequate and inferior; thirdly, in cycles of perfectionist paralysis; and finally, in the tendency to find evidence which

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 19

    Death of personhood The higher-order theme ‘ Death of personhood ’ reflects DRs ’ identity conflict during the PhD process; a sense that DRs ’ engage in a ‘ Sacrifice of personal identity ’ in which they feel they must give up their pre-existing self-identity, begin to conceive of

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 20

    The system is sick The higher-order theme ‘ The system is sick ’ represents systemic influences on DR mental health. First, ‘ Most everyone ’ s mad here ’ reflects the perceived ubiquity mental health problems amongst DRs.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    rise to a feeling of increased stress, pressure, role con- flicts, and a feeling of being unsafe. Seeing, being and becoming The higher-order theme of ‘ Seeing, being and becoming ’ reflects protective and transformative influences on DR mental health.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    ‘ The power of being seen ’ reflects the positive impact on DR mental health afforded by feeling visible to personal and profes- sional others.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    ‘ Finding hope, meaning and authenticity ’ refers to processes by which DRs can find or re-locate their own self-agency, purpose and re/establish a sense of living in accordance with their values.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, self-care was associated with reduced mental health problems. The quantitative find- ings suggest that all types of self-care are likely to be protective of mental health (i.e. physical, emotional, pro- fessional and spiritual self-care).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    That is, isolation was a risk factor, whereas connectedness to others was a protective factor. There was some variability in how these constructs were conceptualised across studies, i.e.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    The quantitative analysis found a negative correlation between inspirational supervision and mental health problems.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 3

    calculated following original authors ’ instructions. Only the Per- ceived Stress Scale (PSS) 10- [18] and 14-item versions [19] met these criteria.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    Narration Prevalence Several studies reported DR mental health problem prevalence and this ranged from 36.30% [54] to 55.9% [67].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    data did not pertain to mental health Fig. 2 A meta-analysis of between-group effect sizes (Cohen ’ s d ) comparing PSS scores (both 10- and 14-item versions) from DRs and normative population data.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    One study compared prevalence amongst DRs and the gen- eral population, employees and other higher education students; in all instances, DRs had higher levels of psy- chological distress (non-clinical), and met criteria for a clinical psychiatric disorder more frequently [64].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 12

    Death of personhood A sacrifice of personal identity • Enmeshment of self-identity and PhD; ‘… this program and what I am doing is essentially my life and everything else revolves around me doing this [PhD]. ’ [59] (p. 10).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • DRs felt that the systemic encouragement of unhealthy lifestyles was tantamount to abuse; ‘ The abuse I experienced is hard to characterize, especially in a survey form.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    • Feeling inauthentic when acting in line with institutional values had a high psychological toll; ‘ The need to get along with a supervisor, to conform and to support institutional values was clearly expressed, and the use of such self-presentation behaviours created feelings of frustration,

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Sometimes they felt that there were unexpressed conflicts and unwritten rules with which they were unacquainted, and which had originated from old conflicts that were still present. ’ [37] (p. 107-8).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    • De-programming from prioritising academia above all was associated with greater confidence, career commitment and motivation; ‘… students reported the greatest confidence and motivation when fac- ulty validated the importance of personal relationships and family matters, and helped students

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • Feeing that supervisors believed in them scaffolded DRs sense of self-agency and motivation; ‘ Journey explained that his supervisors ’ trust in his ability

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    had given him the confidence to begin writing: J: when … you are a person from an environment that is not really value publication as it is here, and then you come to this place – R: – to compete on an even footing – J: Yes … I was very happy that my supervi- sors yeah they trust me, tried

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    to motivate me – ‘ Yes you can, you have experience ’ and … when we dis- cuss content-based knowledge, ah maybe they said – ‘ Yeah … you have ’ R: Mmm J: Then ah one of them at that time started to ask me to write a paper. I guess it's a kind of recognition that you … can do that.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    rise to a feeling of increased stress, pressure, role con- flicts, and a feeling of being unsafe. Seeing, being and becoming The higher-order theme of ‘ Seeing, being and becoming ’ reflects protective and transformative influences on DR mental health.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    The qualitative and quantitative findings presented here suggest that poor mental health is a pertinent prob- lem facing DRs; stress appears to be a key issue and sig- nificantly in excess of that experienced in the general population.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 27

    We were able to conduct three meta-analyses, one of which aimed to calculate the between-group effect size on the PSS [18, 19] between DRs and normative popula- tion data.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 27

    Comparing these data allowed us to draw some initial conclusions about the prevalence of stress amongst DRs, yet we were unable to control for other group differences which might moderate stress levels.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 5

    The meta-analysis of DR scores on the PSS (both 10- and 14-item versions) compared to population norma- tive data produced a large and significant between-group effect size ( d = 1.12, 95% CI [0.52, 1.73]) in favour of DRs scoring higher on the PSS than the general popula- tion (Fig.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    One study compared prevalence amongst DRs and the gen- eral population, employees and other higher education students; in all instances, DRs had higher levels of psy- chological distress (non-clinical), and met criteria for a clinical psychiatric disorder more frequently [64].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    Risk factors Demographics Two studies reported no sig- nificant difference between males and females in terms of reported stress [57, 73], but the majority suggested fe- male DRs report greater clinical [80], and non-clinical problems with their mental health [37, 64, 79, 83, 89].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    Several studies explored how mental health difficulties differed in relation to demographic variables other than gender, suggesting that being single or not having chil- dren was associated with poorer mental health [64] as was a lower socioeconomic status [71].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 12

    I suppose that once again it has to do with the fact that I think everyone else is much better than I am. ’ [37] (p. 104). 2.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • DRs felt that the systemic encouragement of unhealthy lifestyles was tantamount to abuse; ‘ The abuse I experienced is hard to characterize, especially in a survey form.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    • Feeling inauthentic when acting in line with institutional values had a high psychological toll; ‘ The need to get along with a supervisor, to conform and to support institutional values was clearly expressed, and the use of such self-presentation behaviours created feelings of frustration,

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    • De-programming from prioritising academia above all was associated with greater confidence, career commitment and motivation; ‘… students reported the greatest confidence and motivation when fac- ulty validated the importance of personal relationships and family matters, and helped students

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 17

    Multiple goals, roles and groups • Multiple role and activities appeared essential for protecting against mental health problems; ‘ We could all very well do nothing but our school work and worry about presentations and like conferences, but we would probably go crazy and you would never get out

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 20

    Some study participants self- disclosed mental health problems and emphasised their pervasive impact [50]. Further lived experiences of men- tal distress in the absence of explicit disclosure were also clearly identifiable.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 20

    The ‘ typical ’ presentation of DRs with respect to mental health appeared characterised as almost unanimous [39] accounts of chronic stress, anx- iety and depression, emotional distress including frustra- tion, anger and irritability, lack of mental and physical energy, somatic problems

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 20

    including appetite problems, headaches, physical pain, nausea and problems with drug and alcohol abuse [39, 46, 59, 76]. Health anxiety, con- cerns regarding perceived new and unusual bodily sensa- tions and perceived risks of developing stress-related illnesses were also common [46, 59, 76].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    Rather than halting success, de- programming from the prioritisation of academia above all else was seen to be associated not only with reduced stress but greater confidence, career commitment and motivation [40, 50].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 22

    Being seen by others seems to provoke the genesis of an academic identity; it brings DRs into existence as academics. Being seen within the academic institution also supports mental health and can buffer emotional exhaustion [37, 52, 55, 81].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    autonomy [44, 82]. The PhD acted as a forge in which DRs were tested and became remoulded into something greater than they had been before [44, 82, 90].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 28

    Conclusions The results from this systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-synthesis suggest that DRs reported greater levels of stress than the general population. Research regarding the risk and protective factors associated with the mental health of DRs is heterogenous and disparate.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 28

    Based on available evidence, robust risk fac- tors appear to include being isolated and being fe- male, and robust protective factors include social support, viewing the PhD as a process, a positive DR- supervisor relationship and engaging in self-care.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 4

    Heterogeneity was assessed using the Q statistic, and I 2 value — both were interpreted ac- cording to the GRADE criteria [26]. Where correlations could not be summarised within a meta-analysis, we have reported these descriptively.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    data did not pertain to mental health Fig. 2 A meta-analysis of between-group effect sizes (Cohen ’ s d ) comparing PSS scores (both 10- and 14-item versions) from DRs and normative population data.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    *Studies using the 14 item version of the PSS; a positive effect size indicates DRs had a higher score on the PSS; a negative effect size indicates that the normative data produced a higher score on the PSS; black diamond = total effect size (based on random effects model); d = Cohen ’ s d ; Q

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 9

    The first two themes reflect individual risk/vulnerability factors and the processes implicated in the experience of mental distress, the third represents systemic risk and vulnerability factors and the final theme reflects individual and systemic protect- ive mechanisms and transformative

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 12

    Death of personhood A sacrifice of personal identity • Enmeshment of self-identity and PhD; ‘… this program and what I am doing is essentially my life and everything else revolves around me doing this [PhD]. ’ [59] (p. 10).

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • DRs felt that the systemic encouragement of unhealthy lifestyles was tantamount to abuse; ‘ The abuse I experienced is hard to characterize, especially in a survey form.

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    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • DRs reported feeling powerless and caught up in institutional values; ‘ It ’ s easy to drink the Kool-Aid here, to buy into the mantra that I must aim to be a

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    Seeing, being and becoming De-programming • DRs spoke of rejecting the belief they should sacrifice personal relationships and identities; ‘ One student in a male-dominated programme said she was not impressed by her advisor ’ s boasting of having only taken Christmas day off when he first began

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 17

    Chaotic, a lot of motion, and then in the foreground is a caravan moving through the desert and everything seems serene and ordered, and you see the stars and so much beauty.

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    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • Feeing that supervisors believed in them scaffolded DRs sense of self-agency and motivation; ‘ Journey explained that his supervisors ’ trust in his ability

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    had given him the confidence to begin writing: J: when … you are a person from an environment that is not really value publication as it is here, and then you come to this place – R: – to compete on an even footing – J: Yes … I was very happy that my supervi- sors yeah they trust me, tried

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    to motivate me – ‘ Yes you can, you have experience ’ and … when we dis- cuss content-based knowledge, ah maybe they said – ‘ Yeah … you have ’ R: Mmm J: Then ah one of them at that time started to ask me to write a paper. I guess it's a kind of recognition that you … can do that.

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    The qualitative and quantitative findings presented here suggest that poor mental health is a pertinent prob- lem facing DRs; stress appears to be a key issue and sig- nificantly in excess of that experienced in the general population.

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    Thus, our results suggest that, when compared to the general population, PhD students experience a greater maladap- tive imbalance between their available resources and the demands placed upon them.

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    We were able to conduct three meta-analyses, one of which aimed to calculate the between-group effect size on the PSS [18, 19] between DRs and normative popula- tion data.

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    Comparing these data allowed us to draw some initial conclusions about the prevalence of stress amongst DRs, yet we were unable to control for other group differences which might moderate stress levels.

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    For example, the population data was from people in the United States (US) in 1 year, whereas the DR data was multi-national at a variety of time points; and self- reported stress levels may vary with nationality [110] or by generation [111, 112].

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    To explore this heterogeneity, we re-ran the meta- analysis separately for the 10- and 14-item versions.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 7

    Narration Prevalence Several studies reported DR mental health problem prevalence and this ranged from 36.30% [54] to 55.9% [67].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 8

    One study compared prevalence amongst DRs and the gen- eral population, employees and other higher education students; in all instances, DRs had higher levels of psy- chological distress (non-clinical), and met criteria for a clinical psychiatric disorder more frequently [64].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 9

    The first two themes reflect individual risk/vulnerability factors and the processes implicated in the experience of mental distress, the third represents systemic risk and vulnerability factors and the final theme reflects individual and systemic protect- ive mechanisms and transformative

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 13

    The system is sick Most everyone ’ s mad here • Some DRs emphasised pervasive impact of their mental health problems; ‘ I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • Supervisors and the system were seen to promote an expectation of DR suffering; ‘ Katie mentioned a “ proactive ” approach to stress on multiple occasions throughout her interview; unfortunately, however, her portrayal of the prevailing attitudes within the doctoral learning environment was

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 14

    • The cycle of indigenousness of mental health problems was maintained by poor mental health literacy and lack of mental health and support provision; ‘ Caroline: “ I think we are afforded them [mental health services], I just haven ’ t taken advantage of it, even though I probably should have.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 15

    Table 2 Thematic structure with illustrative quotes (Continued) Higher order theme Subthemes Sub-theme detail and illustrative quotes • DRs reported feeling powerless and caught up in institutional values; ‘ It ’ s easy to drink the Kool-Aid here, to buy into the mantra that I must aim to be a

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 16

    • De-programming from prioritising academia above all was associated with greater confidence, career commitment and motivation; ‘… students reported the greatest confidence and motivation when fac- ulty validated the importance of personal relationships and family matters, and helped students

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 17

    Multiple goals, roles and groups • Multiple role and activities appeared essential for protecting against mental health problems; ‘ We could all very well do nothing but our school work and worry about presentations and like conferences, but we would probably go crazy and you would never get out

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 18

    Thus, the experience of isolation appeared to be ex- tremely pervasive, with DRs feeling excluded and iso- lated physically and psychologically and across both their professional and personal lives.

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    Death of personhood The higher-order theme ‘ Death of personhood ’ reflects DRs ’ identity conflict during the PhD process; a sense that DRs ’ engage in a ‘ Sacrifice of personal identity ’ in which they feel they must give up their pre-existing self-identity, begin to conceive of

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 20

    The system is sick The higher-order theme ‘ The system is sick ’ represents systemic influences on DR mental health. First, ‘ Most everyone ’ s mad here ’ reflects the perceived ubiquity mental health problems amongst DRs.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    The qualitative and quantitative findings presented here suggest that poor mental health is a pertinent prob- lem facing DRs; stress appears to be a key issue and sig- nificantly in excess of that experienced in the general population.

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 24

    those supported by multiple studies using qualitative and quantitative findings) denote that being female and isolated increases the risk of the mental health problems, whereas seeing the PhD as a process, feeling socially supported, having a positive supervisor relationship and engaging in

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    Further research is needed to ex- plore which perspective, if any, may explain gender gap in our results. Hazell et al. Systematic Reviews (2020) 9:197 Page 24 of 30

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    However, the results from our meta-synthesis suggest that DRs are not at- tending to their most basic needs much less engaging in self-care behaviours that correspond to psychological and/or self-fulfilment needs [100].

  • Understanding the mental health of doctoral researchers: a mixed methods systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-synthesis · PDF page 26

    Systemic factors DRs ’ attitudes towards their studies may be a product of top-down systemic issues in academia more broadly. Ex- periencing mental health problems was reported as be- ing the ‘ norm ’ , but also appeared to be understood as a sign of weakness.

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    The generalisability of our findings is limited largely due to the lack of research conducted outside of the US, but also because we limited our review to papers written in English only. The nature of doctoral stud- ies varies in important ways between studies.

• Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · Used in the synthesis

  Cited by supported judgments in: Systemic and individual manifestations of stress and coping

  Inspect 65 sources

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    Data for six of the 17 studies were collected in the USA and/or Canada, another nine had data from Europe, one had data from Asia and one from an unspecified location (Kumar & Cavallaro, 2018).

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    (2011) explored the concept of experienced socio-psychological well-being, referring to “ doctoral students ’ experience of their well-being in their scholarly community ” (p. 35), by asking an open-ended question about the PhD student ’ s role in that community (see Table II).

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 10

    various academic disciplines such as biology, business administration, health sciences, nursing, informatics, and public health (Schmidt & Umans, 2014), huma- nities, medicine and behavioural sciences (Pyhältö & Keskinen, 2012; Stubb et al., 2011, 2012), humanities and theology, natural sciences

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    and engineering, social sciences and law, behavioural sciences, economics, and medicine (Cornér et al., 2017), education, chem- istry, and agriculture (Hunter & Devine, 2016), art and social sciences (Pychyl & Little, 1998), and psychology (Zahniser, et al., 2017).

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    However, it should be acknowl- edged that only a few studies address potential differ- ences arising from this diversity.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 1

    Lease, 1999; Petersen, 2011; Salmela- Aro, Tolvanen, & Nurmi, 2011). These early years, i.e., the years spent on PhD studies, are usually associated with a transition from dependence to independence, i.e., from the student role to the professional academic role (Laudel & Gläser, 2008), and it is in

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 2

    peer pressure, frequent evaluations, low status, high workload, paper deadlines, financial difficulties, pressure to publish, active participation in the scho- larly environment, including conferences (Kurtz- Costes, Helmke, & Ulku-Steiner, 2006; Maysa & Smith, 2009), lack of

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 2

    permanent employment, and an uncertain future (Huisman, de Weert, & Bartelse, 2002). Feelings of uncertainty and poor relation- ships with supervisors (Lovitts, 2001) are additional stressors, as are the numerous roles doctoral stu- dent are expected to take, e.g., as a student,

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 5

    (2011) explored the concept of experienced socio-psychological well-being, referring to “ doctoral students ’ experience of their well-being in their scholarly community ” (p. 35), by asking an open-ended question about the PhD student ’ s role in that community (see Table II).

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 5

    burnout (Cornér et al., 2017). Yet, another perspective on experienced well-being may be Agency well-being , which is an adaptation of Sen ’ s capability approach based on the dimensions of agency, well-being, freedom and achievement (Sen, 1993) and can be understood as “ as the success

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 5

    The qualitative study by Schmidt and Umans (Schmidt & Umans, 2014) tried to conceptualize doc- toral student well-being using the metaphor of “ white-water rafting ” (Schmidt & Umans, 2014, p. 10), seeing it as “ cramped in the interaction between self and structural forces " (p.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 9

    well-being (and academic satisfaction) 2 Academic community as source of burden (56%) Decreased socio-psychological well-being in terms of negative feelings (exhaustion, exclusion, hinder of learning, lack of meaningfulness, insecurity) Lower well-being in terms of more stress, exhaustion and

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 9

    anxiety, more lack of interest Academic community as source of empowerment (44%) Increased socio-psychological well-being in terms of positive feelings (enthusiasm, inspiration, support, meaningfulness, contribution, belonging, worthiness) Higher well-being in terms of less stress, exhaustion and

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 9

    Decreased well-being in terms of more emotional exhaustion 13 High frequency of supervision Increased well-being in terms of more satisfaction with supervision Consider interrupting studies Increased well-being in terms of more stress Less satisfied with supervisory support Decreased well-being

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    keywords in the abstracts (or topic in Web of Science) and no time limitations were chosen. Inclusion criteria and selection process The eligibility criteria for the publications to be reviewed were: (1) inclusion of an empirical investiga- tion, (2) specific focus on doctoral students and

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 3

    their well-being, (3) peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal, (4) and written in English. Articles referring to postgraduate students were thoroughly examined because the term “ postgraduate ” refers to doctoral students in some educational systems but not in others.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 5

    well-being (Lonka et al., 2008). Although well-being was not defined in the original article presenting NORD MED, it was measured by a total of 13 items, including questions regarding stress, exhaustion, lack of regulation, anxiety, and lack of interest (based on Elo, Leppänen, & Jahkola,

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 5

    Even though all questions used resemble the same ques- tions used in modified NORD MED, this article refers to a Doctoral Experience Survey, which leads to the assumption that this may be yet another develop- ment of the modified NORD MED.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 6

    Operationalization (mainly quantitative studies) Article Experienced well-being Modified MED NORD 10 items (including stress, exhaustion, anxiety, and lack of interest) Modified MED NORD 10 items (including stress, exhaustion, anxiety, and lack of interest) Stubb et al., 2012 Anttila et al., 2015

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 11

    Third, a limited num- ber of articles were included in the review. However, a systematic search with inclusion criteria that focused on securing a certain level of quality (e.g., peer review, empirics, English) might have decreased the quantity but as the authors carefully read all

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 12

    Finally, the choice of keywords was elaborated on, and several different writings were included but the searches may not have been exhaustive.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 12

    Other possible keywords for use in the keyword search, such as job satisfaction, were rejected because job satisfaction only covers work- related factors not aligned with the purpose of this study, which emphasizes well-being as a multifaceted concept rather than singling out components of

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 2

    The concept of well-being Well-being is a multifaceted phenomenon that has been studied in a number of different disciplines and thus has been defined in many different ways.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 2

    essence of well-being (Galvin & Todres, 2011; Todres & Galvin, 2010). In the last dec- ades two dominating perspectives of well-being have emerged: psychological (or eudaimonic) well-being that is concerned with the realization of a person ’ s true nature and potential; and subjective (or

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 3

    Well-being or lack of it, is typically related to stress, loneliness, psychological distress, depression, and/ or social support when viewed through a social/ behavioural lens.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 5

    (2011) explored the concept of experienced socio-psychological well-being, referring to “ doctoral students ’ experience of their well-being in their scholarly community ” (p. 35), by asking an open-ended question about the PhD student ’ s role in that community (see Table II).

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 5

    burnout (Cornér et al., 2017). Yet, another perspective on experienced well-being may be Agency well-being , which is an adaptation of Sen ’ s capability approach based on the dimensions of agency, well-being, freedom and achievement (Sen, 1993) and can be understood as “ as the success

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 6

    Operationalization (mainly quantitative studies) Article Experienced well-being Modified MED NORD 10 items (including stress, exhaustion, anxiety, and lack of interest) Modified MED NORD 10 items (including stress, exhaustion, anxiety, and lack of interest) Stubb et al., 2012 Anttila et al., 2015

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 10

    Weaknesses One weakness of the reviewed literature concerns the problematic matter of defining “ well-being ” , which may create confusion by referring to different con- cepts, such as emotional well-being, subjective well- being, psychological well-being, socio-psychological well-being, and

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 10

    agency well-being. Well-being is also operationalized in different ways in the various stu- dies and correlated with various other social or health-related concepts such as social support, work engagement, or personality traits, i.e., well-being is used as an input measure, output measure,

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 10

    mediator, and moderator, making it difficult to discern clear causal relationships. Instead, the intertwined relation- ships create a spider ’ s web of interactions between all the elements, indicating the complex nature of doc- toral student well-being.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 4

    Pychyl and Little (1998) applied a concept of sub- jective well-being (SWB) which was operationalized in the quantitative part of their study using the Composite Affect Scale developed by Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin (1985), the Satisfaction with Life Scale by Diener et al.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 4

    Another scale developed by Diener et al. (2010) was used by Zahniser, Rupert, and Dorociak (Edward Diener, 2018).

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 5

    well-being (Lonka et al., 2008). Although well-being was not defined in the original article presenting NORD MED, it was measured by a total of 13 items, including questions regarding stress, exhaustion, lack of regulation, anxiety, and lack of interest (based on Elo, Leppänen, & Jahkola,

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 5

    2003; Mäkinen, Olkinuora, & Lonka, 2004; Maslach & Jackson, 1981; Vermunt & Van Rijswijk, 1988). In the articles included in this review, 10 items were used to investigate doctoral student well-being, including one item question on stress, four item questions on exhaustion, two item questions

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 6

    Operationalization (mainly quantitative studies) Article Experienced well-being Modified MED NORD 10 items (including stress, exhaustion, anxiety, and lack of interest) Modified MED NORD 10 items (including stress, exhaustion, anxiety, and lack of interest) Stubb et al., 2012 Anttila et al., 2015

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    stress and less sleep problems Gender (men) Increased well-being in terms of less perceived stress and less sleep problems Work engagement Increased well-being in terms of higher job satisfaction, and less perceived stress Workaholism Decreased well-being in terms of less job satisfaction, more

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 9

    perceived stress and sleep problems 9 1-Being true to oneself Perceptions and experiences of well-being 2-Being in the sphere of others (e.g., scholarly community, men, peers, supervisors, family) 3-Performing the balancing act (e.g.

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    The question “ I (often) have to force myself to work on my thesis ” was reported to belong to different con- structs such as a lack of interest scale, anxiety scale and cynicism scale depending on which of the three articles it was used in. 2.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 2

    There are also indications that doctoral students (especially women) suffer from stress and mental fatigue (Appel & Dahlgren, 2003).

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 2

    Attrition rates are high, up to 50%, depending on doctoral discipline and country (Gardner, 2008; Jiranek, 2010; Lovitts & Nelson, 2000) and some leave academia after completing their doctoral programme, pursu- ing other careers.

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    In one study, 56% considered dropping out at some point during the PhD process, and that decision was influenced by experiences of stress, anxiety, exhaustion, and lack of interest (Anttila et al., 2015).

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 7

    Yet another study reported that 43% of the sample considered interrupting their studies (Stubb et al., 2011). Experiences of burnout increased the risk of dropping out, while receiving supervision from several supervisors decreased this risk (Cornér et al., 2017).

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 7

    About one third of the sam- ple intended leaving academia, which correlated with experiences of well-being in terms of emotional exhaustion during the PhD process.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 9

    well-being (and academic satisfaction) 2 Academic community as source of burden (56%) Decreased socio-psychological well-being in terms of negative feelings (exhaustion, exclusion, hinder of learning, lack of meaningfulness, insecurity) Lower well-being in terms of more stress, exhaustion and

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 9

    anxiety, more lack of interest Academic community as source of empowerment (44%) Increased socio-psychological well-being in terms of positive feelings (enthusiasm, inspiration, support, meaningfulness, contribution, belonging, worthiness) Higher well-being in terms of less stress, exhaustion and

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 9

    Increased well-being in terms of lower level of stress, exhaustion and anxiety, and less lack of interest Discontent with atmosphere Decreased well-being in terms of wore stress, exhaustion, anxiety, and lack of interest Experiences of stress, anxiety, exhaustion, and lack of interest

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 2

    maintain well-being. Method Systematic literature review For the purpose of this review, a systematic literature search was conducted in March 2018 of the following databases: Web of Science (all databases), ERIC, PsycInfo, and Education Research Complete.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 3

    If it was clear that the author(s) were referring to master ’ s students, the articles were excluded. Findings In total, 68 articles were identified in the databases selected, as shown in Table I.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 3

    After screening the abstracts/articles for relevance and excluding dupli- cates, 17 articles remained to be included in the literature review, which are presented in Table II.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 6

    Methods used in the articles Of the 17 reviewed studies, eight combined qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, whereas five applied a qualitative and four a quantitative design.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 7

    Quantitative data was analyzed by applying descriptive or comparative statistical methods (Herrmann & Wichmann-Hansen, 2017; Pychyl & Little, 1998; Pyhältö & Keskinen, 2012; Stubb et al., 2011, 2012) as well as variance analysis such as ANOVA (Hunter & Devine, 2016; Juniper et al., 2012;

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    Another strength is the wide sample variation of the articles included (ranging from 2 to 1.760 doctoral students), applying a various number of methodolo- gical approaches and study designs. Also, the diverse PhD student body is explored by the inclusion of 8 M. SCHMIDT AND E. HANSSON

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    Second, the search was not limited to any context, location, discipline or time frame, it may be incom- plete since four databases were used. Yet, the choice of databases was strategical and was reflected upon prior to conducting the search.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 11

    Third, a limited num- ber of articles were included in the review. However, a systematic search with inclusion criteria that focused on securing a certain level of quality (e.g., peer review, empirics, English) might have decreased the quantity but as the authors carefully read all

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 12

    Finally, the choice of keywords was elaborated on, and several different writings were included but the searches may not have been exhaustive.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 1

    The reviewed studies are then discussed based on a SWOT analysis addressing the strengths and weaknesses of the reviewed research as well as the identified opportunities and threats, which can be used as a basis for future research.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 1

    Conclusions: The study proposes a more student-centred approach to meeting doctoral students ’ needs, and the enhancement of doctoral student well-being in order, as a long- term goal, to improve academics ’ well-being and productivity.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 2

    Previous studies of the well-being of doctoral stu- dents, and of academic staff in general, have primarily concentrated on isolated determinants of well-being instead of taking a multidimensional perspective, which would allow consideration of multiple factors that interact with each other in

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    It includes both narrow and broad definitions, is inter- preted in various ways, and used differently. Furthermore, well-being also often seems to be stu- died by focusing on the lack of well-being such as stress, burnout and sleep problems.

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    In line with those results, Shavers and Moore (2014) found that overemphasizing academic growth at the expense of emotional and personal development will lead to a lack of wholeness and centredness.

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    Attention was mainly paid to the social processes created by inter- acting with external actors. Finally, one study found that organizational support and supervisor support were positively related to work engagement (Caesens et al., 2014), which in turn had positive effects on well-being,

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    enhance doctoral student well-being. Conclusion Well-being is a multifaceted concept and a single generally accepted definition of well-being is lacking (Seedhouse, 1995).

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 11

    It is therefore not surprising, although rather problematic, that well-being is described in such different ways in the reviewed stu- dies.

  • Doctoral students’ well-being: a literature review · PDF page 11

    Doctoral student well-being might be multidimensional and not limited to a particular set- ting or role; instead, the present results clearly indi- cate that it should be studied more comprehensively.