Grant Recipients
Kristin Brown, Centre for Teaching Excellence
Kristen Archbell, Centre for Teaching Excellence
Linda Sosa-Hernandez, Psychology
(Project Timeline: May 2021 - April 2022)
Description
- This project aims to compare awareness, intentions, and attitudes about student mental health of TA module participants versus TAs who did not complete the same module.
- The module aims to alter pedagogical approaches of TAs, thus positively impacting the learning and wellbeing of UW students.
- Teaching assistants (TAs) should be equipped with strategies and resources to support student mental health, as they are often in direct communication with students and in a position to notice signs of student distress. To address this, we developed two online modules to provide TAs with knowledge and strategies to support student mental health, while taking into consideration their own wellbeing. The overarching goal of this research was to compare awareness, intentions, and attitudes about student mental health of module participants versus TAs who did not complete the modules, with the goal of ultimately altering pedagogical approaches, subsequently impacting the learning and wellbeing of Waterloo students.
- We found that compared to a general sample of TAs (n = 111), module participants (n = 42) had higher intentions to support students in distress, felt more responsibility and more prepared to support students in distress, and reported higher levels of self-care.
Questions Investigated
- Do module participants exhibit more awareness and concern for mental health, compared to non-participants?
- Do module participants believe they can better support students’ mental health, compared to non-participants?
- Do module participants believe it is part of their role to support students who are struggling, compared to non-participants?
Findings
- In a sample of 111 general TAs, and 42 TAs who completed the module, those who completed the module had higher intentions to support students in distress, felt more responsibility and more prepared to support students in distress, and reported higher levels of self-care.
- A gender effect was found through the research as well, where module participants were more expressive in their responsibility to hypothetical females.
- While this effect may have been produced by the sample of this research, or by general mental-health gender bias, it is worth addressing in the next iteration of this module.
- A gender effect was found through the research as well, where module participants were more expressive in their responsibility to hypothetical females.
Dissemination and Impact
- Findings of this study were shared at the 2023 University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference, during the presentation titled, "Supporting students while supporting ourselves: Studying the impact of a mental health TA training module".
- Findings of this study were also shared at the 2023 Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference, during the presentation titled, "Supporting student mental health while maintaining self-care in teaching: A Teaching Assistant training case study".
Implications
- As a result of our conference presentations, the applicants have connected with colleagues from Western University, Brock University, and Humber College who were interested in the module content.
References
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