IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i20p6953-d1264158.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of a Participation in a Structured Writing Retreat on Doctoral Mental Health: An Experimental and Comprehensive Study

Author

Listed:
  • Cynthia Vincent

    (Department of Didactics, University of Quebec in Montreal, Montreal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada)

  • Émilie Tremblay-Wragg

    (Department of Didactics, University of Quebec in Montreal, Montreal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada)

  • Isabelle Plante

    (Department of Didactics, University of Quebec in Montreal, Montreal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada)

Abstract

Challenges faced by doctoral researchers led to a concerning “doctoral mental health crisis” within academia. Recognizing the pressing need to address mental health concerns, notably among doctoral students, the Quebec Ministry of Higher Education introduced the Higher Education Student Mental Health Action Plan 2021–2026. One potentially relevant intervention approach is the implementation of tailored structured writing retreats for graduate students. Aiming to measure and explain the effects of participating to a three-day writing retreat on doctoral mental health, this study followed an explanatory sequential mixed method, including an experimental design. One hundred doctoral researchers were randomly assigned to either the experimental group ( n = 50) or the waitlist control trial group ( n = 50). Both groups answered a questionnaire comprising validated scales and open-ended questions at different timepoints, separated by a two-week gap. Results reveal that writing retreats reduced doctoral researchers’ psychological distress and improved their psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing. Among the multiple writing retreat aspects evaluated, only productivity experienced, as well as socialization/networking opportunities, acted as predictors for all doctoral mental health measures. Qualitative findings further supported the importance of perceived productivity and socialization/networking in promoting doctoral mental health. Recommendations are provided for fostering a supportive research work environment for doctoral researchers.

Suggested Citation

  • Cynthia Vincent & Émilie Tremblay-Wragg & Isabelle Plante, 2023. "Effects of a Participation in a Structured Writing Retreat on Doctoral Mental Health: An Experimental and Comprehensive Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(20), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:20:p:6953-:d:1264158
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/20/6953/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/20/6953/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Levecque, Katia & Anseel, Frederik & De Beuckelaer, Alain & Van der Heyden, Johan & Gisle, Lydia, 2017. "Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 868-879.
    2. Niamh O’Brien & Martin Lawlor & Fiona Chambers & Wesley O’Brien, 2020. "State of Mind Ireland-Higher Education: A Mixed-Methods Longitudinal Evaluation of a Positive Mental Health Intervention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-23, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muni Zhuang & Dongsheng Cheng & Xin Lu & Xu Tan, 2024. "Postgraduate psychological stress detection from social media using BERT-Fused model," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(10), pages 1-21, October.
    2. Nidia Ruedas-Gracia & Crystal M Botham & Amber R Moore & Courtney Peña, 2022. "Ten simple rules for creating a sense of belonging in your research group," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(12), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Fabian Scheidegger & Andre Briviba & Bruno S. Frey, 2023. "Behind the curtains of academic publishing: strategic responses of economists and business scholars," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(8), pages 4765-4790, August.
    4. Anna Muro & Iván Bonilla & Claudia Tejada-Gallardo & María Paola Jiménez-Villamizar & Ramon Cladellas & Antoni Sanz & Miquel Torregrossa, 2022. "The Third Half: A Pilot Study Using Evidence-Based Psychological Strategies to Promote Well-Being among Doctoral Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-16, December.
    5. Sara M. González-Betancor & Pablo Dorta-González, 2020. "Risk of Interruption of Doctoral Studies and Mental Health in PhD Students," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-12, October.
    6. Jing Jia & Nelson C. Y. Yeung, 2023. "“My Cross-Border PhD Journey”: A Qualitative Study on the Educational and Life Challenges of Mainland Chinese PhD Students in Hong Kong," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(12), pages 1-22, June.
    7. Hayter, Christopher S. & Parker, Marla A., 2019. "Factors that influence the transition of university postdocs to non-academic scientific careers: An exploratory study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 556-570.
    8. Chiara Corvino & Amalia De Leo & Miriam Parise & Giulia Buscicchio, 2022. "Organizational Well-Being of Italian Doctoral Students: Is Academia Sustainable When It Comes to Gender Equality?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-15, May.
    9. Meike Heming & Peter Angerer & Mathias Diebig, 2024. "Psychosocial work stressors and mental health in Ph.D. students in Germany—Evidence from two cross-sectional samples," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(12), pages 1-16, December.
    10. Pawe³ A. Atroszko & Bartosz Atroszko, 2020. "The Costs of Work-Addicted Managers in Organizations: Towards Integrating Clinical and Organizational Frameworks," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 22(Special 1), pages 1265-1265, November.
    11. Keloharju, Matti & Knüpfer, Samuli & Müller, Dagmar & Tåg, Joacim, 2024. "PhD studies hurt mental health, but less than previously feared," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(8).
    12. Nasser Lubega & Abigail Anderson & Nicole C Nelson, 2023. "Experience of irreproducibility as a risk factor for poor mental health in biomedical science doctoral students: A survey and interview-based study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(11), pages 1-19, November.
    13. Nannan Zhang & Fengxin Sun & Yongsheng Zhu & Qinglan Zheng & Changjun Jia & Yupeng Mao & Bing Liu, 2023. "Effects of Fitness Dance and Funny Running on Anxiety of Female Ph.D. Candidates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-11, January.
    14. Mohd Zulkifli Abdullah & Aziz Jamal & Mas Anom Abdul Rashid & Michelle Lipa & Geng Yao, 2025. "Exploring the Causes of Psychological Distress among University Students," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(1), pages 2424-2437, January.
    15. Pimentel, Erica & Cho, Charles H. & Bothello, Joel, 2023. "The blind spots of interdisciplinarity in addressing grand challenges," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    16. Kyle R. Myers & Wei Yang Tham & Jerry Thursby & Marie Thursby & Nina Cohodes & Karim Lakhani & Rachel Mural & Yilun Xu, 2023. "New Facts and Data about Professors and their Research," Papers 2312.01442, arXiv.org.
    17. Elena Riva & Rebecca Freeman & Lauren Schrock & Victoria Jelicic & Cameron-Tosh Ozer & Ruth Caleb, 2020. "Student Wellbeing in the Teaching and Learning Environment: A Study Exploring Student and Staff Perspectives," Higher Education Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(4), pages 103-103, December.
    18. Muhammad Zaka Asif & Chaitya Jain & Erin L. Dolan, 2024. "Understanding the Unique Factors Affecting South Asian International (SAI) Student Transitions into PhD Programs in the US: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(2), pages 21582440241, May.
    19. Kevin M. Kniffin & Andrew S. Hanks & Xuechao Qian & Bo Wang & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2020. "Dissertators with Distantly Related Foci Face Divergent Near-Term Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 27825, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Izabel Alves das Chagas Valóta & Rafael Rodrigo da Silva Pimentel & Ana Paula Neroni Stina Saura & Rodrigo Marques da Silva & Ana Lucia Siqueira Costa Calache & Marcelo José dos Santos, 2023. "Fatigue and resilience in Master’s and PhD students in the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil: A cross-sectional study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(12), pages 1-17, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:20:p:6953-:d:1264158. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.