The Student Resilience and Well-Being Project:

A Four Institution Research–Practice Partnership

Presentation to the Symposium on Academic Resilience in Higher Education

University of Pennsylvania

November 19—20, 2018

Collaborators (in alphabetical order by last name)

Project Investigators

• Steven Asher, Duke

• Cole Barton, Davidson (retired)

• Kerstin Blomquist, Furman

• Rick Hoyle, Duke

• Mark Leary, Duke

• Beth Pontari, Furman

• Cinnamon Stetler, Furman

• Timothy Strauman, Duke

• Lauren Stutts, Davidson

• Debra Terrell, JCSU

• Molly Weeks, Duke

Student Life/Student Affairs and Academic Affairs Collaborators

• Connie Carson, Furman

• Jason Cassidy, Furman

• Antonio Henley, JCSU

• Cathy Jones, JCSU

• Janie Long, Duke

• Byron McCrae, Davidson

• Larry Moneta, Duke

• Georgia Ringle, Davidson

• Tom Shandley, Davidson (retired)

• Tom Szigethy, Duke

• Sue Wasiolek, Duke

Project Staff

• Jeremy Chaikind, Duke

• Victoria Guinn, Furman

• Ashley Hufnagle, Duke

• Frances Lobo, Duke

• Sejal Lyons, Duke

• Brooke Midkiff, Duke

• Linas Mitchell, Furman

• Jenny Sun, Furman

• Andrew Zeveney, Duke

Project Overview

Student Mental Health in the News

Defining Resilience and Well-Being

• Resilience – the ability to thrive in the face of adversity and other difficult circumstances

• Well-Being – functioning adaptively across psychological, social, achievement, and health domains

How It Works• Research and practice collaborators identified at each campus

• Big-picture project plan agreed upon, details filled in through collaborative discussions among project stakeholders

• Central project staff at Duke, active research and practice collaborators at each campus

• Decision-making formalized through committees with representation from each campus:

• Project steering committee

• Research committee

• Regular updates and planning with full project team at approximately quarterly in-person meetings

Organizing Framework

Sources of Challenge and Stress

Underpinnings of Risk and Resilience

Psychological, Social, Achievement, and Health Outcomes

• Academic Stressors

• Social Stressors

• Financial Stressors

• Environmental Stressors

• Health Stressors

• Stressful Life Events

• Dispositions and Personality Traits

• Needs, Motives, Goals, and Values

• Self-Regulation

• Beliefs about the Self, Other People, and Relationships

• Social Relationships and Social Support

• Psychological Well-Being and Mental Health

• Social Connections

• Achievement Outcomes

• Health Risk Behaviors

• Physical Health

First Year2014-2015

Second Year2015-2016

Third Year2016-2017

Fourth Year2017-2018

Longitudinal Assessment with Class of 2018

Two Baseline Assessments

End-of-College Assessment

Fall Spring Fall Fall FallSpring Spring Spring

Longitudinal Panel Assessments

First Year2015-2016

Second Year2016-2017

Third Year2017-2018

Fourth Year2018-2019

Longitudinal Assessment with Class of 2019 (JCSU only)

Two Baseline Assessments

End-of-College Assessment

Fall Spring Fall Fall FallSpring Spring Spring

Longitudinal Panel Assessments

What We’re Learning and How We’re Applying it to Practice

Emerging Findings: Foundations of Student Resilience and Well-Being

Academic Engagement

RelationshipsSelf-Compassion

Self-Control

Academic Engagement

We conceptualize academic engagement as “gusto” for the work; distinct from academic performance (e.g., GPA) and from academically relevant behaviors like studying, help-seeking, etc.

• Academic engagement is associated with a wide variety of indicators of well-being and mental health, including:

• Higher levels of belonging

• Having friends on campus and having high-quality friendships

• Higher levels of self-esteem

• Dating just as much as other students, and having fewer hook-ups

• Knowing more faculty members

• Lower levels of alcohol use

• Lower levels of perceived stress

• Lower levels of depressive, anxiety, and somatic symptoms

• Higher levels of self-reported resilience

Academic Engagement

Self-Control

• Behaving in ways that move toward accomplishing a goal in the face of circumstances that might derail goal pursuit

• Self-control is necessary to attain goals in all areas of life

• In the Resilience Project, we have learned:

• Self-control is still developing

• During the early years of college, on average, it declines

• Effect of self-control on achievement is independent of ability

Self-compassion is the degree to which people treat themselves with kindness, care, and compassion in the face of negative events

Self-Compassion

• In the Resilience Project, students higher in self-compassion:

• scored lower in depression and anxiety

• reported higher life satisfaction

• had fewer regrets about how they handled their first year of college

• rated the worst thing that happened each semester as less upsetting and less disruptive to their life

• reported lower stress overall

• reported greater optimism and serenity

• scored higher on an overall measure of resilience

Self-Compassion

Relationships

•There are many important types of relationships the university context. Here, we focus on:

• Friendships

• Relationships with adults on campus, including faculty members

• In the Resilience Project, having friends and having higher-quality friendships on campus predicts:

• Increases in belonging over time

• Decreases in loneliness over time

• We are finding that the way students think about their relationships—including beliefs about friendship, where people “set the bar” for friends, and sensitivity to rejection and disrespect—have important implications for how students deal with challenges in friendship, and in turn for friendship quality.

Relationships: Friendship

•Students who have connections to faculty and other adults on campus report:

• Higher levels of academic engagement

• Feeling more like they matter on campus

• Higher levels of belonging

Relationships: Connections to Adults on Campus

Academic engagement

Self-regulation / control

Self-compassion Social relationships

Holistic advising P P P P

Public resiliency presentations P P P

Time management / implementation interventions P P

Mindfulness initiatives P P

Art carts P P

Mindfulness stones P P P

Light box rental P P

Library resiliency space – “The Nest” P P P

Resiliency sub-grants P P P P

The Body Project P P

Physical education & wellness P P P P

HHMI Inclusive Excellence FIRST program P P

PFHA Healthier Campus Initiative P P P

Lake Campus excursions (forthcoming) P P

Project website (forthcoming) P P P

Bounce Breaks (2016-17 pilot) P P

TAO Connect (discontinued) P P

Updated October 2018

From Research to Intervention Summary Table – Davidson

Sub-grantsProject Token

Installation Depicts Marginalized Students’ Resilience

Rahman hopes the project, through the various narratives from students, will create a more “inclusive” environment… Rahman said the interview made her feel not as a “subset of the student experience” but rather “an integral part of its complexity.”

- The Davidsonian, April 18, 2018

Duke Practice Implications

• Dissemination of findings broadly across campus• Duke Trustees• Office of Undergraduate Education and Undergraduate Schools• Academic Advising• Interdisciplinary Programs (e.g., Bass Connections, DukeEngage)

• Initial focal areas• Friendships (First year roommates change)• Self-Compassion (Koru)• Academic Engagement (Expanded partnerships with faculty and programs)

• Self-Control of greatest interest• Addictive behaviors• Resistance to negative peer pressures

Furman University: Challenge and Support1

Focus on Academic Stressors - CHALLENGE• Early results

• High number of academic stressors and high level of perceived stress in academic domain

• Continued through senior year• More than 50% of responses indicate academics as the top stressor for each

assessment Followed by time management

• Number of academic stressors and perceived academic stress predicted:• Depression• Anxiety• GPA

1Sanford, N. (1962). The American college. New York: Wiley.

Furman University: Challenge and Support

Other clues from the data about Challenge:

• Report of what was student’s “most significant challenge, setback, or negative event you have experienced”

Academic or social domain stressor described most often

• Student perception of what Furman as an institution values suggests a CULTURE OF CHALLENGE

Most highly rated: GPA, getting internships/experience, going to grad school, being involved in lots of extra and co-curricular activities

Furman University: Challenge and Support

What about Support?

• “During the past month, how many professors have you had a conversation with outside of class” predicts:

• Lower depression• Higher GPA• Stronger feeling of belonging during freshmen year and sophomore year,

but not during junior or senior year

• Stronger feelings of belonging predicted lower depression and anxiety

The Furman Advantage Strategic Vision Pilot Intervention Pathways Advising Program

• Goal• Provide consistent levels of support, access, and awareness for first & second

year students

• Create foundation for academic, social, and professional development

• How?• 2-year, credit bearing course (1 credit per term = 1 course over two years)

• 15 students with academic advisor

• Cover broad common curriculum timed appropriately for student development

• Focus on reflection

• Current sophomores in Year 2, first-years in Year 1

Year 1: Explore & DiscoverPathways Fall Term Curriculum

Time management

Finding your place

What is liberal arts?

Conflict resolution, making good choices

Academic integrity

Stress management and mental health

Thriving & responding to failures

Library & academic success resources

Family adjustments

Spring course planning

Reflection

Early assessment of program is promising

From Research to Practice Listening to Data at JCSU

Unintended Positive Consequences?

• Institutional data show striking differences between students who

participated in our study and those who did not in terms of:

• Semester-by-semester retention rates

• Four-year graduation rates (for the first cohort)

• GPA

Semester 2

Semester 3

Semester 4

Semester 5

Semester 8

94.1% (143)

80.1% (122)

76.9 % (117)

67.1% (102)

61.2% ( 93)

Participants (152) Non Participants (116)N N

5.3

27.5

28.6

22.3

18.7

difference

Semester-by-Semester Retention RatesCohort 1

88.8% (103)

52.6% (61)

48.3 % (56)

44.8% (52)

42.5% (48)

Semester 2

Semester 3(Freshman – Sophomore Year Retention)

Semester 5(Sophomore – Junior Year Retention)

94.9% (259)

75.1% (205)

61.2% (169)

92.8% (295)

59.7% (190)

49.8% (158)

Participants (273) Non Participants (318)

N N

2.1

15.4

11.4

difference

JCSU: Cohorts 1 & 2 (591) – Retention Rates by Semester

1ST Semester GPA 3.0 2.5

The Project Enhances Academic Success ?

PARTICIPANT ENROLLMENT (JCSU)

152 116

81

Cohort 1

A1 A2 B E F G H K2

08/14 10/14 10/15 4/16 4/174/15 4/18

K1JI

2/1810/16 10/17

Unintended Intervention?• Freshman Orientation Classes--JCSU cares about your success

• Challenged students to help us make JCSU the Best we can be

• Office Visits

• First collegiate “Finals Care Packages”

• Monetary compensation

• Homecoming Ticket Package raffle, T-shirts, Tumblers

ADULT SUPPORT

COMMITMENT TO EDUCATION

POSITIVE PEER GROUP

SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT Sc

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Time, interest, attention and emotional support to students

Believing that school is important to their

future

Perceiving that adults in school are invested in

their education

A stable network of peers

Physical environment andpsychosocial climate

Factors that Can Increase School Connectedness—CDC

School Connectedness—The belief held by students that adults and peers in theschool care about their learning as well as about them as individuals. (CDC and APA)

ADULT SUPPORT

COMMITMENT TO EDUCATION

POSITIVE PEER GROUP

SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

SMITHITE PRIDE

(The larger peer group)

Departmental (Majors)

Freshman Convocation

Post Graduate Career Advising (from Day 1)

Exposure to High-Impact Learning Opportunities

(i.e., Undergraduate Research Experiences; Internships, etc.)

SMITHITE BLASTS

The Smith Way Blast

(This Is How We Do It!)

Substandard Blast (a POOF!!)

(This Is NOT How We Do It!)

Campus Mingle

(Faculty/Staff/Students/Campus Police)

Ice cream Break

Sch

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100% Customer Service Campaign

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The campus staff are caring and helpful

Students are made to feel welcome here

Administrators are approachable to students

Faculty care about me as an individual

My academic advisor is concerned about my success I generally know what's happening on campus

An enjoyable experience to be a student on this campus

Most students feel a sense of belonging here

The college shows concern for students as individuals

The campus is safe and secure for all students

Students are made to feel welcome here

This school does whatever it can to help me reach my

educational goals

This institution has a good reputation within the community

ADULT SUPPORT

COMMITMENT TO EDUCATION

POSITIVE PEER GROUP

SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

Sch

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory (4-Year College and

University Version). Schreiner, LA & Juillerat, S (1994)

ADULT SUPPORT

COMMITMENT TO EDUCATION

POSITIVE PEER GROUP

SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

INCREASED “SCHOOL CONNECTEDNESS”SSI scores

INCREASED PERSISTANCERetention Rates

INCREASED PERFORMANCEGPA

DECREASED NEGATIVE BEHAVIORSAlcohol, Drug, Sex-related

INCREASED Faculty/Staff SatisfactionCampus Climate scores

INCREASED INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESSRecruitmentRetentionRigor

INCREASED ASSSESSMENTData-driven Institutional Planning

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100% Customer Service Campaign

Longterm Outcomes

Closing Thoughts

Lessons Learned from Our Research–Practice Partnership

• Leave room for serendipity—it is important to strike a balance between having a clear vision and goals for the project and allowing flexibility to go where the partnership takes you

• It is a challenge to discover what matters and what works within each context—recognize that each campus context has a unique constellation of needs and resources, and that solutions are unlikely to be “one size fits all”

• Be in it for the long haul—partnerships don’t happen overnight; relationship development is a must

Thank You!