Identifier

etd-04012013-151324

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Human Resource Education and Workforce Development

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected personal and professional demographic characteristics on the attitudes toward and perceptions of selected mental health issues among currently employed faculty of four year public universities. Faculty members at two universities in Southeastern Louisiana were invited to participate in an online survey designed by the researcher to assess attitude toward mental health, willingness to help students with mental health issues, ability to identify students with mental health issues, ability to help students with mental health issues, along with a variety of personal and professional demographic characteristics. A total of 281 faculty members participated in the study and 261 provided usable responses. Overall, faculty members in this study demonstrated positive attitudes towards mental health and a willingness to help students with mental health issues. Also, this study found that previous mental health training was significantly, positively correlated with attitude toward mental health, willingness to help students with mental health issues, ability to identify students with mental health issues, and ability to help students with mental health issues. Furthermore the majority of participants indicated that they did not believe that their university was doing enough to address student mental health concerns or to ensure faculty members were aware of mental health services available to students. Based on these findings the researcher concluded that faculty members are willing to participate in addressing student mental health concerns and those that are trained are best able to help. The researcher recommends that universities invest in developing training programs for faculty members covering various mental health topics. Although at least a portion of this training should be part of an annual requirement for all faculty members, universities should also give faculty access to additional, online mental health training which they can choose to utilize. Furthermore, the researcher recommends that universities develop a hotline for faculty members so that they are able to reach university mental health professionals at all hours in the event of student mental health emergencies.

Date

2013

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Burnett, Michael

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.1361

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