Browsing by Subject "university students"

The mental health of university students has been a concern worldwide for years, and the issues have been increasing gradually to this date. Factors related to increased stress and mental health issues among university students include poor academic performance. To succeed in studies, students need to acquire organized study skills, which are also connected to one’s psychological well-being. By increasing psychological flexibility, it is possible to learn skills of managing stress, thoughts, and emotions and thus enhance one’s own mental well-being. Psychological flexibility is the goal of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and refers to a skill to focus on the present moment and live in the pursuit of one’s own goals and values. The connection between psychological flexibility and well-being has been studied quite extensively with quantitative measures. However, there is less research about this connection in the context of higher education institutes and university students. Also, according to the knowledge of the researcher, there has been fewer studies on the impact mechanisms of the different sub-processes of psychological flexibility and ACT. More in-depth research with qualitative methods is also needed to gain better understanding about the phenomenon. In some studies, ACT-based interventions have been found to have a positive impact on university students’ psychological well-being and study skills, but more research is needed within this context. The study was conducted applying a mixed methods approach combining repeated measures ANOVA and inductive content analysis. The research group consisted of students who participated in the web-based course, Towards Better Well-being and Studying, during fall 2021 at the University of Helsinki, Finland. For the quantitative measurements, a control group was also used, consisting of students on the waiting list for the course. The research task of this study was to gain better understanding of the possible changes in the participants’ well-being and organized study skills during the course, as well as to examine, how the students attending the course have evaluated the effectiveness of the specific modules and tasks involved during the course. Quantitative results showed that the course had a statistically significant effect on participants' organized study skills, psychological flexibility, and emotional and psychological well-being. Comparing the results of students who participated in the course with those of the control group, whose measures remained mostly the same, confirms this finding about the effects of the course on well-being, organized study skills and psychological flexibility. The results of the qualitative part of the study were in line with these findings. Based on findings from inductive content analysis, the course’s different modules were perceived as useful, and the course had an impact on the well-being of most students as well as their organized study skills. Students’ responses displayed personal development and in-depth reflection both at an individual level and at a broader and societal level. The students felt that they had gained new insights and particularly many concrete tips on how to promote their own well-being and learning, which they will continue to use in the future.

Objectives. Research ethics is an essential part of good science and the craftsmanship of trained professionals. However, there are only few studies about teaching and learning research ethics in universities. In the context of Finnish universities, the research is non-existent. The objective of this study was to examine students' research ethics skills and perceptions, and how university appears as a learning environment from the students' perspective. The objective was also to recognise possible developmental needs in education. The concept of ethical sensitivity represented the research ethics skills of students. Methods. The study utilised a mixed methods approach. The population consisted of psychology and educational science students in University of Helsinki. Students (N=87) responded to a questionnaire examining whether students' empathy, organisational and professional socialisation, and experiences on the department's ethical climate have a relationship with their sensitivity in research ethics issues. Three vignettes were composed for measuring sensitivity in research ethics issues. The informants' task was to recognise the ethical issues embedded in the vignettes. Also the relationship between students' age, field of study, progression in studies, and sensitivity in research ethics issues was examined. Six students, who were also respondents of the questionnaire, were interviewed. The frame of the interviews was created on the grounds of the quantitative results. The interviews were analysed thematically. Results and conclusions. According to principal component analysis, the measure of socialisation did not consist of the same dimensions than the original measure (organisational socialisation and professional socialisation). The Finnish data produced two new components: socialisation to the values of the field and the department, and socialisation to the practices of the field and the department. The latter component predicted sensitivity to ethical issues in research (?=.287, p=.023, R2=.09) in the regression model. Other variables did not have the same relation. The six students interviewed represented two different student clusters based on their socialisation in cluster analysis. Those students who reported a high level of socialisation to the values and the practices of the field and the department emphasised research ethics as certain practices, whereas those students who did not report a high level of socialisation emphasised the relativity of values and the importance of questioning existing norms. The findings suggest that in order for students to commit themselves to ethical research practices, they need to figure out the value basis of those practices. For teaching research ethics this implies that practical guidelines and realistic examples will have to be underpinned with thorough discussions about the underlying values and their consequences. This way the development of the students to responsible and ethical subjects can be assisted successfully.

Objectives. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, a large part of teaching in higher education institutions was transferred to distance learning, which affected the lives of students in many ways. The aim of this study was to examine what kind of challenges Finnish university students experienced in their studies during the Covid-19 pandemic and distance learning in the fall of 2020. The connections of the perceived challenges to gender and to the start date of studies were also examined. This study aimed to form a deeper understanding of what kind of demands the Covid-19 pandemic caused for university students. Based on the demands, it was discussed what kind of resources students would need to support their studies and well-being. In this study the study demands-resources model was used as theoretical framework. Methods. The research data was gathered as a part of the research of the educational psychology research unit of the Faculty of Education, University of Helsinki. The sample consisted of university students (N=1264) aged 18–58, of whom 81% were women. The measures of the study were based on an open question regarding the challenges experienced by students in their studies. The data was analyzed by classifying the challenges appearing in the answers using qualitative methods. The connections of the perceived challenges to gender and to the start date of studies were also examined using cross-tabulation. The significance of the observed differences was tested with the χ² test. Results and conclusions. Thirteen different categories of challenges were identified from the data, which described different physical, social, emotional and cognitive challenges experienced by the students. The most common challenges reported by students were related to high workload, time management and organizational skills, as well as lack of social interaction and loneliness. The results showed differences in the perceived challenges according to the start date of the studies. The results also suggested gender differences, but these differences were not statistically significant. Based on the results, students would need social support which the university could provide, for example by enabling social integration, especially at the beginning of studies. In addition, students would need support for developing time management and organizational skills, as well as physical support, for example in the form of providing facilities suitable for studying.