eStudents reported who they work/worked with most closely during their research experiences. However, students sometimes described that even mundane tasks could be difficult when they were required to remember specific steps; for example, some students struggled recalling a protocol from memory when their depression was particularly severe. 2020 K. M. Cooper, L. E. Gin, etal. Gin, L. E., Rowland, A. I throw myself into work to distract myself from the feelings of depression and sadness., Rose: When youre sad or when youre stressed you want to go to things youre familiar with. Students describe that they struggle to do research activities that require intellectual engagement when they are feeling depressed. Assessment of course-based undergraduate research experiences: A meeting report. Hows school? Depression is one of the top undergraduate mental health concerns, and the rate of depression among undergraduates continues to rise (Center for Collegiate Mental Health, 2017). Finally, students described that depression often made them feel less social, and they struggled to socially engage with other members of the lab when they were feeling down. Another recent study identified that depression severity in biomedical doctoral students was significantly associated with graduate program climate, a perceived lack of employment opportunities, and the quality of students research training environment (Nagy etal., 2019). Further, students described difficulty getting out of bed or leaving the house, feeling tired, a lack of motivation, being overly self-critical, feeling apathetic, and having difficulty concentrating. In cases in which quotes were too different from other quotes, a new theme was created. In Fall 2018, we surveyed undergraduate researchers majoring in the life sciences across 25 research-intensive (R1) public institutions across the United States (specific details about the recruitment of the students who completed the survey can be found in Cooper etal. It is possible that students in other majors may have different challenges and opportunities for students with depression, as well as different disciplinary stigmas associated with mental health. And maybe I wouldve been able to get internships at institutions like my peers. So thats how lab is. Luyten, P., Sabbe, B., Blatt, S. J., Meganck, S., Jansen, B., De Grave, C. Dependency and self-criticism: Relationship with major depressive disorder, severity of depression, and clinical presentation, Student perspectives on undergraduate research (UR) experiences in chemistry and biology, Cognitive vulnerability, lifetime risk, and the recurrence of major depression in graduate students. Once the final codebook was established, the researchers (K.M.C. He corrected me but his method of correcting was very discouraging because it was a ridicule. A study of life sciences undergraduates enrolled in CUREs identified three strategies of students who adopted adaptive coping mechanisms, or mechanisms that help an individual maintain well-being and/or move beyond the stressor when faced with failure in undergraduate research: 1) problem solving or engaging in strategic planning and decision making, 2) support seeking or finding comfort and help with research, and 3) cognitive restructuring or reframing a problem from negative to positive and engaging in self encouragement (Gin etal., 2018). I feel like so much of this stalling I had on various projects was because of [my depression].. Armbruster, P., Patel, M., Johnson, E., & Weiss, M. Active learning and student-centered pedagogy improve student attitudes and performance in introductory biology, Working with doctoral students: Rhythms of Academic Life: Personal Accounts of Careers in Academia. We recruited a national sample of 35 undergraduates engaged in undergraduate research at 12 different public R1 institutions. 2021;46 (5):519-538. doi: 10.1007/s10755-021-09552-y. Ibrahim, A. K., Kelly, S. J., Adams, C. E., & Glazebrook, C. A systematic review of studies of depression prevalence in university students, Why diversity matters: Understanding and applying the diversity component of the National Science Foundations broader impacts criterion. . Background. Over time weve developed a relationship where I know that outside of work and outside of the lab if I did want to talk to them about something I could talk to them. A recent study of students in undergraduate research experiences highlighted that inequitable distribution of praise to undergraduates can create negative perceptions of lab environments for students (Cooper etal., 2019). You dont get the results you want. Auchincloss, L. C., Laursen, S. L., Branchaw, J. L., Eagan, K., Graham, M., Hanauer, D. I. Later, I will look back on work and have no idea how any of that made sense to me., Adrianna: Yeah. Therefore, to minimize a biased sample, we invited anyone who identified with having depression to participate in our study; we did not require students to be diagnosed with depression or to be treated for depression in order to participate. Epub 2021 Apr 23. Additionally, being alone or having negative interactions with others in the lab worsened students depression. Request full-text PDF. However, the literature suggests that students with depression may find experiencing failure in research to be especially difficult (Elliott etal., 1997; Mongrain and Blackburn, 2005; Jones etal., 2009). Students describe that their depression can cause them to not want to interact with others in the lab or to be less social in general. Depressive symptoms among young adults in the - ScienceDirect The impact of depression on the academic productivity of - PubMed Further, the limited number of interviewees made it not possible to examine whether there were trends based on students demographics or characteristics of their research experiences (e.g., their specific area of study). Particularly, students described that research demanded a lot of their time and that their mentors did not always seem to be aware that they were juggling school and other commitments in addition to their research. Because inferences about the importance of these themes cannot be drawn from these counts, they are not included in the results of the paper (Maxwell, 2010). Reporting the number of individuals who reported themes within qualitative data can lead to inaccurate conclusions about the generalizability of the results to a broader population. () We understand the stresses in the lab. We expand upon our findings by integrating literature on depression with the information that students provided in the interviews about how research mentors can best support students. We also wanted to explore how research impacted students feelings of depression. Students described that their depression negatively affected their productivity in the lab. The percent of U.S. college students who self-reported a diagnosis with depression was recently estimated to be about 25% (American College Health Association, 2019). However, something to keep in mind is that a student with depression and a student without depression may process praise differently. Depression is described as a common and serious mood disorder that results in persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness, as well as a loss of interest in activities that one once enjoyed (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Enter your email address below and we will send you your username, If the address matches an existing account you will receive an email with instructions to retrieve your username. Nafiul Alam Khan, Md. In addition to highlighting the importance of developing relationships with graduate students or postdocs in the lab, students described that forming relationships with other undergraduates in the lab also helped their depression. TABLE 1. Jobst, A., Sabass, L., Palagyi, A., Bauriedl-Schmidt, C., Mauer, M. C., Sarubin, N. Effects of social exclusion on emotions and oxytocin and cortisol levels in patients with chronic depression, Managing concealable stigmas at work: A review and multilevel model. gOther focus areas of research included sociology, linguistics, psychology, and public health. Additionally, some students described even more concerning behavior from research mentors, which negatively affected their depression. In fact, praise has been shown to enhance individuals motivation and subsequent productivity (Hancock, 2002; Henderlong and Lepper, 2002), factors highlighted by students as negatively affecting their depression. And when Im depressed, I dont care. It really depends on the grad students and the leadership and the mood that theyre in., Interviewer:How does it affect your depression when the grad students are in a bad mood?, Abby:It definitely makes me feel worse. For students to be successful in school they need to be able to self-manage their cognitive-motivational, behavioral and emotional processes. Especially when the experiment didnt really work. Abby: One of my best friends is in the lab with me. *Address correspondence to: Katelyn M. Cooper (E-mail Address: [emailprotected]). Importantly, undergraduates in the United States have reported identical levels of depression as graduate students but are often less likely to seek mental health care services (Wyatt and Oswalt, 2013), which is concerning if undergraduate research experiences exacerbate depression. Notably, 33.8% of these individuals cited a negative lab environment and 33.3% cited negative relationships with their mentors as factors that influenced their decision about whether to leave (Cooper etal., 2019c). So, I feel like I wouldve been able to put myself out there more and take more risks, reaching out to others to take opportunities when I was in lab.. Once an initial set of themes was established, two researchers (K.M.C. Brown, R. T., Daly, B. P., & Leong, F. T. Mentoring in research: A developmental approach. Method: We report on themes that were mentioned by at least 20% of students in the interview study. When Im talking with somebody else, I forget about those things.. Depression is a top mental health concern among undergraduates and has been shown to disproportionately affect individuals who are underserved and underrepresented in science. Also explain to students how their individual work relates to the overall project so that they can understand how their contributions are important. However, recent literature has highlighted that poor mentoring can negatively affect undergraduate researchers (Cooper etal., 2019c; Limeri etal., 2019). The relationship between depression symptoms and academic performance How Common Is Depression Among College Students? - WebMD NIMH Depression PDF The potential effect of depression on academic outcomes of students in I think that can really help with depression., Kelley: I know that anytime I need to talk to [my postdoc mentors] about something theyre always there for me. Depression has been shown to disproportionately affect many populations that are underrepresented or underserved within the scientific community, including females (American College Health Association, 2018; Evans etal., 2018), first-generation college students (Jenkins etal., 2013), individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds (Eisenberg etal., 2007), members of the LGBTQ+ community (Eisenberg etal., 2007; Evans etal., 2018), and people with disabilities (Turner and Noh, 1988). Poverty and mental health: How do low-income adults and children fare in psychotherapy? 1, 2023 by The American Society for Cell Biology, Approaches to Biology Teaching and Learning. This study examined the prevalence of mental health problems among university students. Prevalence and associated factors of depression among Jimma University 1, 14 December 2021 | Journal of American College Health, Vol. The interviews were approximately an hour long, and students received a $15 gift card for their participation. In this exploratory interview study, we identified a variety of ways in which depression in undergraduates negatively affected their undergraduate research experiences. One researcher (L.E.G.) Undergraduates described how research both positively and negatively affected their depression. Decreased energy, fatigue, or being "slowed down". Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies or activities. To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors. 22, No. A., & Lane, C. J. 21, No. Frontiers | Factors That Predispose Undergraduates to Mental Issues: A Whats going on? () What helps me the most is having that strong support system. While there are likely other aspects of undergraduate research that affect student depression, we hypothesize that these factors have the potential to exacerbate negative research experiences for students with depression. Its like, no, I do have these better things that Im working on. 2, Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education, Vol. Freddy: I find mechanical things like actually running an experiment in the lab, I can pretty much do regardless of how Im feeling. While these studies have focused on graduate students, and there are certainly notable distinctions between graduate and undergraduate research, the research-related factors that affect graduate student depression, including worklife balance, relationships with mentors, research environment, stress, and self-esteem, may also be relevant to depression among undergraduates conducting research. While significant research has been done on mentoring and mentoring relationships in the context of undergraduate research (Byars-Winston etal., 2015; Aikens etal., 2017; Estrada etal., 2018; Limeri etal., 2019; NASEM, 2019), much less has been done on the influence of the lab environment broadly and how people in nonmentoring roles can influence one another. Additionally, the study highlighted that more students with depression disagreed than agreed with the following statements: their advisors provided real mentorship, their advisors provided ample support, their advisors positively impacted their emotional or mental well-being, their advisors were assets to their careers, and they felt valued by their mentors. Gilbert, P., Baldwin, M. W., Irons, C., Baccus, J. R., & Palmer, M. Self-criticism and self-warmth: An imagery study exploring their relation to depression. Frontiers | Perceived Academic Stress and Depression: The Mediation The survey asked students for their opinions about their undergraduate research experiences and their demographic information and whether they would be interested in participating in a follow-up interview related to their research experiences. () Being yelled at and constantly demeaned and harassed at all hours of the day and night, that was probably pretty bad for me.. But its really hard to get myself to focus.. PDF review article Depression: Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors in Depression as a concealable stigmatized identity: What influences whether students conceal or reveal their depression in undergraduate research experiences? Cooper, K. M., Blattman, J. N., Hendrix, T., & Brownell, S. E. The impact of broadly relevant novel discoveries on student project ownership in a traditional lab course turned CURE, Coming out in class: Challenges and benefits of active learning in a biology classroom for LGBTQIA students. FAIL is not a four-letter word: A theoretical framework for exploring undergraduate students approaches to academic challenge and responses to failure in STEM learning environments. Research article First published online May 16, 2016 The Experience of Depression: A Qualitative Study of Adolescents With Depression Entering Psychotherapy Katharina Weitkamp, Eva Klein, and Nick Midgley View all authors and affiliations All Articles https://doi.org/10.1177/2333393616649548 PDF / ePub More Abstract Students explained that if they are not able to take the time to focus on recovering during a depressive episode, then they typically continue to struggle with depression, which negatively affects their research. Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Among Undergraduate Students - PubMed A review of 51 studies in psychiatry supported our undergraduate researchers perceptions that social relationships positively impacted their depression; the study found that perceived emotional support (e.g., someone available to listen or give advice), perceived instrumental support (e.g., someone available to help with tasks), and large diverse social networks (e.g., being socially connected to a large number of people) were significantly protective against depression (Santini etal., 2015). Finally, research helped some students depression, because it felt familiar, provided a distraction from depression, and reminded students that they were contributing to a greater cause. I failed the GRE and I paid so much money to prepare for it. It just makes [my depression] better, like okay, this is normal for students to go through this. Mentors can regularly check in with students about how theyre doing, and talk openly about the importance of mental health, which may increase the chance that students may feel comfortable revealing their depression (Chaudoir and Quinn, 2010; Cooper et al., unpublished data). While depression results from a complex interaction of psychological, social, and biological factors (World Health Organization, 2018), studies have shown that increased stress caused by college can be a significant contributor to student depression (Dyson and Renk, 2006). A strength of this study is the sampling approach. But our grad students are like Hey, whats up? This sentiment is echoed by researchers in psychiatry who have found that patients who do not fully recover from a depressive episode are more likely to relapse and to experience chronic depression (Judd etal., 2000). Therefore, students depression may be exacerbated in challenging undergraduate research experiences, because studies have shown that depression is positively correlated with student stress (Hish etal., 2019). low self . Therefore, praise can help calibrate their overly negative self-perceptions. who conducted the think-aloud interviews together to ensure that their interviewing practices were as similar as possible. In this article, we use the term mentor to refer to anyone who students referred to in the interviews as being their mentors or managing their research experiences; this includes graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, lab managers, and primary investigators (PIs). This may be useful to overtly state on a research website or in a research syllabus, contract, or agreement if mentors use such documents when mentoring undergraduates in their lab. Undergraduate researchers described both psychological and physical symptoms that manifested as a result of their depression and highlighted how such symptoms prevented them from performing to their full potential in undergraduate research. 23, No. Make an effort to establish more personal relationships with undergraduates and ensure that they perceive that they have access to sufficient help and guidance with regard to their research. Specifically, more information is needed about how the research process and environment of research experiences may affect depression. In sum, students with depression highlighted that a lab environment full of positive and encouraging individuals was helpful for their depression, whereas isolating or competitive environments and negative interactions with others often resulted in more depressive feelings. Interestingly, these students talked most about how helpful it was to be able to take a mental health day and not do research on days when they felt down or depressed. Sorkness, C. A., Pfund, C., Ofili, E. O., Okuyemi, K. S., Vishwanatha, J. K., Zavala, M. E. A new approach to mentoring for research careers: The National Research Mentoring Network, Does low self-esteem predict depression and anxiety? Each researcher took detailed analytic notes throughout the review of an interview, which they discussed after reviewing each interview. We acknowledge the ASU LEAP Scholars for helping us create the original survey and Rachel Scott for her helpful feedback on earlier drafts of this article. We also asked students to describe any additional ways in which their depression affected their research experiences. (2019c)). Crystal: [Something that helps my depression is] I have text messages from [my graduate student mentor] thanking me [and another undergraduate researcher] for all of the work that weve put in, that he would not be able to be as on track to finish as he is if he didnt have our help., Interviewer: Why is hearing praise from your mentor helpful?, Crystal: Because a lot of my depression focuses on everybody secretly hates you, nobody likes you, youre going to die alone. We found this to be true; students highlighted that their relationships with their mentors as well as the overall lab environment could negatively affect their depression, but could also positively affect their research experiences. Grav, S., Hellzn, O., Romild, U., & Stordal, E. Association between social support and depression in the general population: The HUNT study, a cross-sectional survey, How many interviews are enough? Marta: [Depression affects my research] because Im so scared to take a risk. (PDF) DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF DEPRESSION AMONG - ResearchGate Conversely, some students reported that their research labs were very understanding of students schedules.

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