Experiencing Transition and Mental Distress: Narratives of First-Year University Students
| dc.contributor.advisor | Groen, Janet Elizabeth | |
| dc.contributor.author | Pethrick, Helen | |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Simmons, Marlon | |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Russell-Mayhew, Shelly | |
| dc.date | 2021-11 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-06-14T14:17:08Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2021-06-14T14:17:08Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2021-06-10 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Student mental health and well-being has become an area of increased attention and relevance within Canadian higher education. More university students every year report mental health problems and universities have developed strategies to promote student mental health. Direct-entry first-year university students are in need of unique support for their mental well-being because they are in a critical developmental time in emerging adulthood. The purpose of this inquiry was to explore the narratives of students who experienced mental distress during their first year of university. This inquiry asked: How do direct-entry university students, who identify as having undergone mental distress in their first year, experience the transition from high school to university? I engaged in a qualitative narrative inquiry methodology. I conducted narrative interviews with eight current undergraduate students who had entered university directly from high school and had experienced mental distress during their first year of university. In my analysis, I elucidated individual and collective narratives from these students’ experiences. The participants’ experiences were divided in two subsets of narrative portraits: current first-year students and current upper-year students. The subsets were distinguished by the participants’ temporal positioning to their first-year university experience. Two collective narratives emerged: entangled transitions and waves of mental distress. Through this inquiry, the participants engaged in narrative learning to restory their experience of transition and mental distress. To support the transitional experiences of direct-entry students, universities should implement holistic approaches that frame first-year university students as whole people and emerging adult learners. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Pethrick, H. (2021). Experiencing Transition and Mental Distress: Narratives of First-Year University Students (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/38917 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1880/113488 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher.faculty | Werklund School of Education | en_US |
| dc.publisher.institution | University of Calgary | en |
| dc.rights | University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. | en_US |
| dc.subject | Canadian higher education | en_US |
| dc.subject | emerging adults | en_US |
| dc.subject | first-year experience | en_US |
| dc.subject | mental distress | en_US |
| dc.subject | narrative inquiry | en_US |
| dc.subject | transition | en_US |
| dc.subject | university students | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Education | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Mental Health | en_US |
| dc.title | Experiencing Transition and Mental Distress: Narratives of First-Year University Students | en_US |
| dc.type | master thesis | en_US |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Education Graduate Program – Educational Research | en_US |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Calgary | en_US |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Arts (MA) | en_US |
| ucalgary.item.requestcopy | true | en_US |