Assessing stress, protective factors and psychological well-being among undergraduate students

This study aims to examine the relationships among stress, self-efficacy, resilience, mindfulness, social support, and psychological well-being among undergraduate university students in the school of Health Sciences at the Universtiy of Brighton.

A longitudinal, predictive design will be adopted. Students who are enrolled with the NUS regardless of schools/colleges are eligible for this study. Potential participants will be excluded if they are diagnosed with physical and mental disorders by physicians or psychiatrists. Eligible and interested students will be asked to complete online self-reported questionnaires, containing the Perceived Stress Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), Psychological well-being Scale, and demographic data.

Students’ identifying information will not be collected to achieve anonymity. Data will be collected twice, one year apart. Descriptive statistics, multiple regression analyses, and structural equation modelling will be used to analyse data.

At the University of Brighton, excellence in teaching and quality education are strongly emphasised. Academic staff are obligated to provide effective pedagogical strategies, maximise productive environments, minimise negative factors that compromise optimal learning outcomes, and promote psychological well-being among students. It is important to assess and monitor students’ psychological well-being.

Results from this study will add knowledge to the literature regarding the relationships among psychological well-being and stress, mindfulness, self-efficacy, resilience, and social support in university students.

Findings from this study will provide background information essential to further actions, such as the development of mental health promotion programme for students.