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journal article Open Access Jul 28, 2023

Mental health in undergraduate engineering students: Identifying facilitators and barriers to seeking help

Courtney J. Wright Sarah A. Wilson ORCID Joseph H. Hammer ORCID Lucy E. Hargis Melanie E. Miller Ellen L. Usher ORCID
Journal of Engineering Education Vol. 112 No. 4 pp. 963-986 · Wiley
View at Publisher Save 10.1002/jee.20551
Abstract
AbstractBackgroundEngineering students encounter high levels of stress, which may negatively impact their mental health. Nevertheless, engineering students who experience mental health distress are less likely than their peers to seek professional help, even when controlling for gender and race/ethnicity.PurposeWe examined beliefs that undergraduate engineering students have about barriers and facilitators to seeking professional help for their mental health. We also sought to identify cultural and systemic factors within and beyond engineering that might affect help‐seeking. Together, these beliefs influence students' sense of personal agency around seeking mental health care.MethodWe implemented a pragmatic qualitative design that incorporated the integrated behavioral model to investigate engineering students' (N = 33) professional mental health help‐seeking beliefs. We used thematic analysis to analyze help‐seeking beliefs and perceived barriers and facilitators that students described during interviews.ResultsWe identified four themes: Navigating the system impacts personal agency; sacrifices associated with help‐seeking act as a barrier; engineering culture acts as a barrier to help‐seeking; and student confidence in help‐seeking varies significantly. These themes portray the effect of perceived barriers and facilitators on students' personal agency for accessing mental health care. Our findings have implications for engineering departments and university counseling centers that want to minimize barriers to help‐seeking.ConclusionsEngineering stakeholders must improve access to professional help for engineering students. Implementing changes to normalize help‐seeking behaviors, enhance personal agency, and facilitate engagement with mental health resources will create better conditions for engineers. Further research is necessary to understand how other beliefs (e.g., attitudes, perceived norms) inform the relationships between student mental health, professional help seeking, and engineering culture.
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Cited By
37
Examining associations between individualism, collectivism, and undergraduate students’ decisions to seek and give academic help

Amos Jeng · 2026

Learning, Culture and Social Intera...
Metrics
37
Citations
81
References
Details
Published
Jul 28, 2023
Vol/Issue
112(4)
Pages
963-986
License
View
Authors
C
Courtney J. Wright

Department of Educational, School and Counseling Psychology University of Kentucky Lexington Kentucky USA

S
Sarah A. Wilson

Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering University of Kentucky Lexington Kentucky USA

J
Joseph H. Hammer

Department of Educational, School and Counseling Psychology University of Kentucky Lexington Kentucky USA

L
Lucy E. Hargis

Department of Social Work University of Kentucky Lexington Kentucky USA

M
Melanie E. Miller

Department of Educational, School and Counseling Psychology University of Kentucky Lexington Kentucky USA

E
Ellen L. Usher

Office of Applied Scholarship and Education Science Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science Rochester Minnesota USA

Funding
National Science Foundation Award: 2024394
Cite This Article
Courtney J. Wright, Sarah A. Wilson, Joseph H. Hammer, et al. (2023). Mental health in undergraduate engineering students: Identifying facilitators and barriers to seeking help. Journal of Engineering Education, 112(4), 963-986. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20551
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