Assessing the Mental Health Awareness and Training Needs of College Professors
Faculty Advisor Name
Noorjehan Brantmeier
Department
Department of Learning, Technology and Leadership Education
Description
This study aimed to identify the relationship between college professor knowledge of mental illness and their ability to identify and assist students exhibiting symptoms of mental health distress. The adversity of students with diagnosed mental health disorders has been thoroughly assessed by research in a multitude of ways. What has yet to be understood, is the professor’s side of this growing challenge within the classroom. To better understand how mental illness in college classrooms may be addressed from both-sides of the relationship, instructional faculty and staff at James Madison University were identified as the target population of this study. Through explanatory modeled research, data was first collected via a Qualtrics survey, which was distributed via JMU mass email to all JMU faculty and staff in late November. This survey was original to the study due to the lack of prior research measured from the instructor point of view. Once this data was collected, it was analyzed to produce a follow-up interview to further understand the opinions and knowledge instructors have on mental health disorders. To ensure the validity of these instruments, professor reviews were collected prior to use and distribution. During the month of February, interviews were conducted, and the qualitative data was analyzed through emergent coding and the use of the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis tool. Using this mixed method research design, an in depth look into the subject of mental illness in the classroom from the professor perspective was assessed. Through the analysis, multiple findings were addressed. The quantitative data measured the perceived frequency in interactions professors had with students with mental illnesses, their acquired mental health training within the last five years, and their opinions on mental health disorders in the classroom. The qualitative data revealed strengths of current JMU policy and education, weaknesses due to lack of knowledge on mental health disorders, opportunities to strengthen the current procedures, and threats that are impeding student and professor success. Topics on mental illness that professors believe would be helpful to understand as well as their perceived benefits of such training are explained and related back to the literature. Due to the low response rate in both survey and interview participation, this study’s reliability and generalizability are low, but these findings still suggest further research should be done to better support instructional faculty and staff through this changing climate. Future research would benefit from a larger sample size and may desire to understand how these opinions vary by age, gender and academic discipline.
Assessing the Mental Health Awareness and Training Needs of College Professors
This study aimed to identify the relationship between college professor knowledge of mental illness and their ability to identify and assist students exhibiting symptoms of mental health distress. The adversity of students with diagnosed mental health disorders has been thoroughly assessed by research in a multitude of ways. What has yet to be understood, is the professor’s side of this growing challenge within the classroom. To better understand how mental illness in college classrooms may be addressed from both-sides of the relationship, instructional faculty and staff at James Madison University were identified as the target population of this study. Through explanatory modeled research, data was first collected via a Qualtrics survey, which was distributed via JMU mass email to all JMU faculty and staff in late November. This survey was original to the study due to the lack of prior research measured from the instructor point of view. Once this data was collected, it was analyzed to produce a follow-up interview to further understand the opinions and knowledge instructors have on mental health disorders. To ensure the validity of these instruments, professor reviews were collected prior to use and distribution. During the month of February, interviews were conducted, and the qualitative data was analyzed through emergent coding and the use of the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis tool. Using this mixed method research design, an in depth look into the subject of mental illness in the classroom from the professor perspective was assessed. Through the analysis, multiple findings were addressed. The quantitative data measured the perceived frequency in interactions professors had with students with mental illnesses, their acquired mental health training within the last five years, and their opinions on mental health disorders in the classroom. The qualitative data revealed strengths of current JMU policy and education, weaknesses due to lack of knowledge on mental health disorders, opportunities to strengthen the current procedures, and threats that are impeding student and professor success. Topics on mental illness that professors believe would be helpful to understand as well as their perceived benefits of such training are explained and related back to the literature. Due to the low response rate in both survey and interview participation, this study’s reliability and generalizability are low, but these findings still suggest further research should be done to better support instructional faculty and staff through this changing climate. Future research would benefit from a larger sample size and may desire to understand how these opinions vary by age, gender and academic discipline.
