{"id":17797,"date":"2018-05-31T18:12:26","date_gmt":"2018-05-31T17:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/?p=17797"},"modified":"2018-06-04T10:25:21","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T09:25:21","slug":"the-struggle-to-offer-mental-health-services-to-phd-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/2018\/05\/31\/the-struggle-to-offer-mental-health-services-to-phd-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Universities struggle to offer crucial mental-health support to PhD students"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>European institutes report that their services are under strain and that they have issues with graduate-student engagement.<\/h4>\n

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A report<\/a>\u00a0from Vitae, a non-profit science-career advocacy organization in Cambridge, UK, found that while UK universities are seriously considering the mental health of PhD researchers, gaps and shortcomings in the graduate-programme system continue to keep many students from getting help.<\/p>\n

The report, which was co-produced by the University of Ghent in Belgium and the Brighton, UK-based Institute for Employment Studies<\/a>, examined 10 institutions of various sizes across England,\u00a0 Scotland and Wales. All recognised a legal and moral duty to provide mental-health support to students, says Janet Metcalfe, head of Vitae. Although none of the institutions had a formal plan specifically geared towards graduate-level researchers, two had started developing such plans, a sign of a growing commitment to mental-health issues at UK universities. “There\u2019s a momentum going on in the UK,” she says.<\/p>\n

Though the report covers 10 institutions, Metcalfe notes that 87 places of higher education vied to be included, a sign of widespread interest in the issue. Surveys and focus groups underscored one common problem: PhD students often feel separated from the rest of the university, making them less likely to take advantage of the mental-health services and programmes offered to undergraduates. Universities could do more to make clear that services are available for everyone, Metcalfe says, adding:”PhD researchers perceive that mental-health campaigns aren\u2019t directed at them, so they don\u2019t listen.”<\/p>\n

The report also found that university counselling services are under strain, forcing many students to endure long waits to be seen. At one university that offered limited counselling sessions, a PhD researcher said that they decided not to seek help for mental-health problems “in case my mental health is worse later and I need the sessions more.”<\/p>\n

Metcalfe hopes that the report will help inspire more research into the mental-health needs of everyone at universities. She\u2019d especially like to investigate postdoctoral researchers, a group that she calls underserved and says faces particular challenges. She notes that postdocs are caught between the worlds of students and academics, and t may not feel like they truly belong. “I\u2019m sure the impostor syndrome<\/a>\u00a0is common at the postdoctoral level,” she says.<\/p>\n

Universities could give students, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers a big boost by providing more mental-health services and training to staff and faculty, Metcalfe says. “As a sector, universities are well behind other sectors in thinking about the mental health and well being of their staff,” she says. “If we\u2019re going to make a difference, it has to come from he top and come all the way through the institution, so that staff and students alike know that their mental health and well being is important.”<\/p>\n

The report was funded by the former Higher Education Funding Council<\/a>, which has since split into Research England<\/a> and the Office for Students<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chris Woolston is a freelance writer in Billings, Montana.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

See also:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Science careers and mental health<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A report\u00a0from Vitae, a non-profit science-career advocacy organization in Cambridge, UK, found that while UK universities are seriously considering the mental health of PhD researchers, gaps and shortcomings in the graduate-programme system continue to keep many students from getting help.  Read more<\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88283,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,323,302,65],"tags":[2481651,65],"class_list":["post-17797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia-2","category-career-paths","category-diversity-2","category-phd","tag-mental-health","tag-phd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17797\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}