Mavrogalou-Foti, AP;
Kambouri, MA;
Çili, S;
(2024)
The supervisory relationship as a predictor of mental health outcomes in doctoral students in the United Kingdom.
Frontiers in Psychology
, 15
, Article 1437819. 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1437819.
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Abstract
Introduction: The process of a doctorate degree has been implicated in the onset and exacerbation of mental health problems among doctoral students. Previous studies have suggested that the student-supervisor relationship may predict emotional wellbeing and mental health outcomes in doctoral students in the UK. However, these studies were conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic and often used unstandardized measures to investigate supervisory styles. Methods: The present study was part of the Better Together project, a wellbeing initiative for doctoral students in the UK. It explored the predictive ability of aspects of the student-supervisor relationship with regards to doctoral students’ mental health outcomes. The sample consisted of 141 students doing a research-based doctorate degree in the UK. The survey included demographic questions and questionnaires assessing supervisory styles, the discrepancy between actual and preferred supervisory relationship, depression, anxiety, and stress. Results: A large proportion of participants fell in the severe and extremely severe categories in the depression, anxiety, and stress sub-scales. Multiple regression analyses indicated that both supervisory styles and discrepancy significantly predicted students’ mental health outcomes. More specifically, higher scores in the uncertain supervisory style, which is characterized by indecisiveness and ambiguity, were linked with higher scores in depression, anxiety, and stress. Discussion: The findings provided new insights concerning the aspects of the student-supervisor relationship that are related to the mental health issues of doctoral students in the UK. They have important implications for future research and supervision practice.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The supervisory relationship as a predictor of mental health outcomes in doctoral students in the United Kingdom |
| Location: | Switzerland |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1437819 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1437819 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2024 Mavrogalou-Foti, Kambouri and Çili. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
| Keywords: | doctoral students, mental health, postgraduate studies, supervision, supervisory relationship |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10200023 |
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