@article{10902/28098,
year = {2022},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10902/28098},
abstract = {This paper explores an intervention approach (in the form of workshops) focusing on doctoral progress, to address the problems of low emotional well-being experienced by many doctoral candidates. Doctoral education suffers from two severe overlapping problems: high dropout rates and widespread low emotional well-being (e.g., depression or anxiety symptoms). Yet, there are few interventional approaches specifically designed to address them in the doctoral student population. Among structural, psychosocial, and demographic factors influencing these problems, the self-perception of progress has emerged recently as a crucial motivational factor in doctoral persistence. This paper reports on an iterative design-based research study of workshop interventions to foster such perception of progress in doctoral students? everyday practice. We gathered mixed data over four iterations, with a total of 82 doctoral students from multiple disciplines in Spain and Estonia. An approach to preventive interventions that combines research-backed education about mental health and productivity, peer sharing and discussion of experiences, and indicators of progress, as well as self-tracking, analysis, and reflection upon everyday evidence of their own progress. The paper provides initial evidence of the effectiveness of the proposed interventions, across two institutions in two different countries. Further, our data confirms emergent research on the relationships among progress, emotional well-being, and dropout ideation in two new contexts. Finally, the paper also distills design knowledge about
doctoral interventions that focus on progress, relevant for doctoral trainers, institutions, and researchers.},
organization = {This research has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 669074 (CEITER). It has also received funding from the European Union’s Erasmus Plus programme, grant agreement 2019-1-NO01-KA203-060280 (DE-TEL). The Universidad de Valladolid co-authors acknowledge funding of the European Regional Development Fund and the National Research Agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innova-tion, and Universities, under project grant TIN2017-85179-C3-2-R (SmartLET), and PID2020-112584RB-C32, the European Regional Development Fund, and the Regional Government of Castile and Leon, under project grant VA257P18},
publisher = {Informing Science Institute},
publisher = {International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 2022, 17, 39-66},
title = {Progress-oriented workshops for doctoral well-being: evidence from a two-country design-based research},
author = {Prieto, Luis P. and Odriozola González, Paula and Rodríguez-Triana, María Jesús and Dimitriadis, Yannis and Ley, Tobias},
}