Abstract
This study explored the experiences of 33 Master of OT students in their first semester of graduate school. Students described a recurring movement of turbulence and rebalancing as they moved from undergraduate to graduate education. The stages appeared to be cyclical in nature. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was used as a means to understand these barriers and facilitators. Faculty can facilitate adaptation to promote students’ academic and professional success and improve student retention and matriculation.
Primary Author and Speaker: Judith Malek-Ismail
Graduate school is characterized as an overwhelming experience dominated by a change in roles, a restructuring of routines and habits, and a shift in work-life balance (Evans et al., 2018; Pfeifer et al., 2008). Increased stressors in graduate school were found to be highly related to poorer mental health (Evans et al., 2018; Jahan, Siddiqui, Mitwally, Al Zubidi, 2016). Sources of stress appear to stem from the institutional level, interpersonal/intrapersonal level, and logistics, such as financial stressors. Graduate professional degree programs tend to be long and intense, with full-time year-round heavy semester credit loads, for three or more years (Seegmiller et al., 2015). Occupational therapy is an example of this trend. A lens through which to view the concerns and stressors of graduate students is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1954). Maslow’s hierarchy has been applied to students in higher education as a means to understand their learning barriers and facilitators (Freitas & Leonard, 2011; Gobin, Teeroovengadum, Becceea, 2012; Holdford & Lovelace-Elmore, 2001). Maslow (1954) proposed that human needs serve as motivators to seek gratification, and basic, lower level physiological, safety and security, and love and belonging needs must be met before an individual can focus on meeting higher order needs that pertain to personal growth, including mastery for self-esteem, and self-actualization.These unmet needs become regarded as stressors leading to anxiety, and potential threats to mental well-being, particularly when a person is challenged to meet these needs over longer periods of time (Bulut, Hisar, & Demir, 2010; Noltemeyer, Bush, Patton, & Bergen, 2012).The objective of this phenomenological study was to gain this understanding by exploring how first-year MOT students identified changes in their occupations, roles, habits, and routines, and what strategies they used to adapt to these changes since beginning graduate school. Using Maslow’s framework, insights were sought into what student needs emerged during the transition into graduate education, and how these needs were being met by the students themselves and by faculty. Participants were 33 graduate students enrolled in the first semester of a traditional, full-time entry-level MOT program at a rural public university in southwest Virginia. Two faculty researchers supervised all of the procedural aspects of the study and provided training and ongoing guidance to the second-year MOT student researchers across the two year study from 2015- 2016. The data were collected through audio-recorded face-to-face interviews with the use of a semi-structured interview guide to seek depth of understanding about perceptions and meaning of their experiences with daily life and perceptions of transitioning to a full-time MOT program, the changes in their occupations, roles, habits and routines, and how they have coped since beginning graduate school. One overarching theme, turbulence and rebalancing, and four superordinate themes emerged; anxiety, contextual stress, social supports, and self-determination. Participants experienced a recurring movement of turbulence and rebalancing, progression and regression as they moved from undergraduate to graduate education. Self-determination helped the participants rebalance or move through an apparent cycle away from stress and anxiety; yet social, environmental, and faculty barriers steered the students back to stress and anxiety. Graduate level occupational therapy faculty can access varied approaches to facilitate students recognizing their own needs, satisfying them, and achieving a healthier experience during graduate education. This in turn may improve graduate student retention and matriculation.
Malek-Ismail, J., & Krajnik, S. R. (2018). Thriving In the First Semester of Graduate School: A Process of Rebalancing and Self- Determination. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.26681/jote.2018.020302
Evans, T. M., Bira, L., Gastelum, J. B., Weiss, L. T., & Vanderford, N. L. (2018). Evidence for a mental health crisis in graduate education. Nature Biotechnology, 36(3), 282-284. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4089
Jahan, F., Siddiqui, M. A., Mitwally, M., Al Zubidi, N. S. J., & Al Zubidi, H. S. J. (2016). Perception of stress, anxiety, depression and coping strategies among medical students at Oman Medical College. Middle East Journal of Family Medicine,14(7), 16-23. https://doi.org/10.5742/mewfm.2016.92856