Mental Health Matters: Examining teaching assistants’ beliefs about supporting student mental health

You are invited to participate in a research study by Dr. Kristin Brown and Dr. Kristen Archbell from the University of Waterloo Centre for Teaching Excellence, which is investigating Teaching Assistants’ (TAs)’ beliefs about student mental health. Our research endeavours to learn more about TAs’ awareness, feelings of preparedness, and perceptions about student mental health in higher education. Further, we are interested in learning about what you would do in situations where students exhibit mental health concerns. The research is funded by a University of Waterloo Learning Innovation and Teaching Enhancement (LITE) grant.

Graduate student Teaching Assistants at the University of Waterloo are eligible to participate in this study. If you are currently enrolled as a graduate student, and are currently or have previously been a TA at the University of Waterloo, you are eligible to participate. If you’ve completed either the “Supporting Student Mental Health” (CTE2259) or “Social Anxiety in the Classroom” (CTE1264) module, please don’t complete this survey. Contact the researchers (Dr. Kristin Brown, Educational Developer TA Training and Writing Support and Dr. Kristen Archbell, Educational Research Associate) at cteproj1@uwaterloo.ca for more information.

If you decide to participate, you will be asked to complete a 10-to-15-minute online survey. Participation is voluntary. You may decline to answer any questions that you do not wish to answer and you can withdraw your participation at any time by not submitting your responses. There are no known or anticipated risks from participating in this study. Your decision regarding participation will not affect your academic standing at the University. The survey contains questions about your awareness of student mental health, your experiences with mental health, your feelings of self-efficacy, and beliefs about student mental health. Moreover, you will be asked for demographic information about you as an individual (e.g., age, gender, wellbeing).

Participation will take approximately 10 -15 minutes, and you will receive a $5 gift card to Tim Hortons for participating in this survey. The amount received is taxable. It is your responsibility to report this information for income tax purposes.

Participate in the 10-to-15-minute survey now

You will be completing the study by an online survey operated by Qualtrics. 

This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo Research Ethics Board (REB #43240). If you have questions for the Board, contact the Office of Research Ethics, at 1-519-888-4567 ext. 36005 or reb@uwaterloo.ca.

For all other questions, contact the researchers (Dr. Kristin Brown, Educational Developer, TA Training and Writing Support and Dr. Kristen Archbell, Educational Research Associate from the Centre for Teaching Excellence) at cteproj1@uwaterloo.ca. Further, if you would like to receive a copy of the results of this study, please email cteproj1@uwaterloo.ca.

There are no anticipated risks associated with participating in this study. However, it is possible that you may experience discomfort in answering some questions. If you would like to talk to a qualified counsellor about your personal situation, you can contact University of Waterloo Counselling Services at (519) 888-4567 ext. 32655 or if you are outside of Ontario, you can contact Empower Me at 1-833-628-5589 (toll-free).

You will receive a $5 gift card to Tim Hortons for participating in this survey, which will be emailed to you within 7 days of completing the survey. The amount received is taxable. It is your responsibility to report this amount for income tax purposes. If you wish to stop participating in the survey but still receive remuneration, please click through the survey to the end of the survey.