Systematic review and meta-analysis of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among Ph.D. students

Satinsky, Emily N.; Kimura, Tomoki; Kiang, Mathew V.; Abebe, Rediet; Cunningham, Scott; Lee, Hedwig; Lin, Xue; Liu, Cindy H.; Rudan, Igor; Sen, Srijan; Tomlinson, Mark; Yaver, Miranda; Tsai, Alexander C.

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-93687-7

Cited by 109 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 105 publications

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“…There also appears to be extensive variation in prevalence of depression among university students, with rates of depression ranging from 10 to 85% (Ibrahim et al, 2013). A recent meta-analysis indicates that depression is highly prevalent among PhD students, with a pooled prevalence of clinically significant depression of 24% (Satinsky et al, 2021). Depression levels in the current study were at the bottom-end of what is generally seen in studies of university and postgraduate students.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 41%

Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Public Health Questionnaire for Estimating Depression Among Tibetan Buddhist Monastics

et al. 2021

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Background: Depression is the largest source of global medical disability, highlighting the importance of translating and validating depression screening instruments to improve our understanding of differences in the prevalence of depression in divergent cultures around the world. The aim of this study was to translate and evaluate a widely used depression screening and diagnostic instrument, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), for use with Tibetan populations. A secondary aim was to use the Tibetan-PHQ-9 (T-PHQ-9) to estimate the prevalence of depression symptoms in a population of Tibetan-speaking Buddhist monastic scholars engaging in a 6-year science curriculum in India, the Emory Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI).Methods: Three-hundred-eighty-four monastics (363 monks, 21 nuns) completed the T-PHQ-9. We computed measures of internal consistency and conducted factor analysis to evaluate scale performance. Following this, we evaluated the prevalence of depressive symptoms among the monastic population. We also conducted cognitive interviews with six monastics to explore their thought processes when completing the instrument and when thinking about depression symptoms.Results: The T-PHQ-9 had acceptable reliability and demonstrated a single-factor structure. While having low energy was the most commonly endorsed symptom, monastics did not have overall higher endorsement rates of other somatic symptoms when compared with endorsement rates of emotional symptoms. Over 10% of the monastics scored in the moderately severe to severe range and met criteria for major depressive disorder using standard diagnostic criteria cut-offs. First year monks had the highest mean score, and there was not a significant difference between monks and nuns. Cognitive interviews revealed some variation in the cognitive processes used to complete the instrument, particularly with symptoms related to energy and concentration.Conclusion: These preliminary findings indicate that the Tibetan PHQ-9 is a reliable instrument for assessing depressive symptoms, as evidenced by its ability to inform how symptoms are experienced, interpreted, and communicated among Buddhist monastics. Results from the cognitive interviews may be important for further refining the instrument.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 41%

Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Public Health Questionnaire for Estimating Depression Among Tibetan Buddhist Monastics

et al. 2021

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“…Doctoral studies remain one of the most challenging and under-served areas of education, and the interlocking problems of attrition and emotional distress still affect hundreds of thousands of our doctoral candidates on a daily basis (see Satinsky et al, 2021;and Taylor, 2021). In this paper, we have proposed the notion of progress in the dissertation as a central concept to address these interlocking problems, and we have iteratively designed and evaluated short interventions that target this notion, to improve students' emotional wellbeing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In parallel to this research on doctoral attrition, studies place the prevalence of emotional wellbeing problems like depression or anxiety among doctoral students around 40% (e.g., Evans et al, 2018;Levecque et al, 2017), higher than similar demographic groups (e.g., other higher education students and highly educated workforce, see Levecque et al 2017). While more recent estimations of prevalence gave out lower numbers (24% for depression, 17% for anxiety, see Satinsky et al, 2021), if we consider the global doctoral student population (Taylor, 2021), we can conclude that currently, more than half a million doctoral students may be suffering from such conditions worldwide (and double that number can be at risk of doctoral dropout).…”

Section: Related Work Dropout and Emotional Wellbeing In Doctoral Studiesmentioning

confidence: 92%

Progress-Oriented Workshops for Doctoral Wellbeing: Evidence from a Two-Country Design-Based Research

Prieto¹,

Odriozola-González²,

Rodríguez‐Triana³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Aim/Purpose. Doctoral education still suffers from two severe overlapping problems: high dropout rates and low emotional wellbeing experienced by many doctoral candidates (e.g., depression or anxiety symptoms). Yet, there are few interventional approaches specifically designed to address them in the doctoral student population.Background. Among structural, psychosocial and demographic factors influencing these problems, the self-perception of progress has emerged recently as a crucial motivational factor in doctoral persistence. This paper explores an intervention approach (in the form of workshops) focusing on doctoral progress. Methodology. This paper reports on an iterative design-based research study of workshop interventions to foster such perception of progress in doctoral students’ everyday practice. We gathered mixed data over four iterations, with a total of N=82 doctoral students from multiple disciplines in Spain and Estonia.Contribution. An approach to preventive interventions that combines research-backed education about mental health and productivity, peer sharing and discussion of experiences and indicators of progress, as well as self-tracking, analysis and reflection upon everyday evidence of their own progress. The paper provides initial evidence of the effectiveness of the proposed interventions, across two institutions in two different countries. Further, our data confirms emergent research on the relationships among progress, emotional wellbeing and dropout ideation in two new contexts. Finally, the paper also distils design knowledge about doctoral interventions that focus on progress, relevant for doctoral trainers, institutions and researchers.Findings. Our quantitative and qualitative results confirm previous findings on the relationships among progress, burnout and dropout ideation. Our iterative evaluation of the workshops also revealed a large positive effect in students’ positive psychological capital after the workshops (Cohen’s d=0.83). Our quantitative and qualitative analyses also started teasing out individual factors in the variance of these benefits.Recommendations for Practitioners. Intervention design guidelines for doctoral trainers include: focusing on actionable productivity and mental health practices, the use of activities targeting perception biases and taboos, or the use of active practices and real (anonymous) data from the participants to make progress visible and encourage reflection.Recommendations for Researchers. The construct of progress, its components and its relationships with both emotional wellbeing and doctoral dropout, need to be more deeply studied, using multiple methods of data collection, especially from more frequent, ecologically valid data sources (e.g., diaries).Impact on Society. The proposed interventions (and focusing on doctoral progress more generally) hold promise to address the current emotional wellbeing and dropout challenges facing hundreds of thousands of doctoral students worldwide, ultimately helping increase the research and innovation potential of society as a whole.Future Research. More rigorous evaluative studies of the proposed approach need to be conducted, with larger samples and in other countries/contexts. Aside from the proposed one-shot training events, complementary longitudinal interventions focusing on supporting everyday progress and reflection throughout the doctoral process should be trialed.

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“…Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, poor mental health was pervasive among graduate students and in academia 2 , 3 . In a 2019 global survey of 6,320 PhD students, 36% of respondents reported seeking help for anxiety or depression caused by their studies 4 .…”

Section: Mental Health Issues Among Graduate Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a 2019 global survey of 6,320 PhD students, 36% of respondents reported seeking help for anxiety or depression caused by their studies 4 . A synthesis of articles published through 2019 yielded a pooled estimate of “clinically significant symptoms of depression” in 24% of PhD students (across 16 studies covering 23,469 students) and of anxiety in 17% of PhD students (across 9 studies covering 15,626 students) — notably higher rates than among young adults in the general population 3 .…”

Section: Mental Health Issues Among Graduate Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating mental health challenges in graduate school

Burton

Cao

2022

Nat Rev Mater

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Systematic review and meta-analysis of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among Ph.D. students

Cited by 109 publications

References 105 publications

Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Public Health Questionnaire for Estimating Depression Among Tibetan Buddhist Monastics

Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Public Health Questionnaire for Estimating Depression Among Tibetan Buddhist Monastics

Progress-Oriented Workshops for Doctoral Wellbeing: Evidence from a Two-Country Design-Based Research

Navigating mental health challenges in graduate school

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