a growing experience - Student Services - University of Melbourne

More documents

Recommendations

Info

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSvariety of information sources, as perceived by students. Students were asked toindicate the most useful source of information only.Table 84Perceived usefulness of information sources concerning university servicesPercentageofresponsesUniversitywebsiteStudentdiarySources of informationAcademicstaffNonacademicstaffStudents,friendsOther62.5 10.9 5.0 1.9 18.7 1.0It is clear from student responses that the university website is regarded as by far themost useful source of information. Other sources of information are seen as the mostuseful source by much smaller percentages of students. In particular, students andfriends act as a valuable source of information for an important percentage ofstudents.The part played by friends who have used university services in the prediction ofwhether or not students decide to access those services themselves has already beendiscussed. How many students know of friends who have used university health,counselling and other services? Table 85 presents this information.Table 85Use of university services by friends of respondentsType of university servicePercentageofrespondentsYesHealth(n=973)No/DKYesCounselling(n=968)No/DK YesOther(n=969)No/DK47.6 52.4 17.4 82.6 29.7 70.3Cross-tabulations of students who use a university service with their knowledge offriends who have used the same service show a significant relationship for each of thethree types of service considered. Students with friends who have used the healthservice are themselves significantly more likely to use the service if they have need ofhelp 352 . Similarly, if they feel they need help, those with friends who have accessedthe counselling service are themselves significantly more likely to use the counsellingservice 353 . The same is also true of the use of other university services 354 .352 2 = 29.80, 1 df, p
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSTHREE STYLES OF ADAPTATIONOn the basis of the analyses of the responses students have given to the questionnaire,we have been able to discern three different styles or modes of adaptation ofinternational students to life and study in Melbourne.• A positive and connected style of adaptation. This style is characterised by apositive sense of connectedness, low levels of psychological and cultural stress, asense of balance in lifestyle, and satisfaction with various aspects of life andstudy. This style is characteristic of the majority of students.• An unconnected and stressed style of adaptation. Low levels of connectednessare evident in this style, together with a pervasive sense of stress and lack of wellbeing.Stress is evident in students’ sense of being overwhelmed by their studiesand by cultural difference, but also in virtually every aspect of their life inMelbourne. Accompanying the stress are relatively high levels of anxiety,depression and avoidance of risk-taking behaviour. About one-third of studentsexhibit this style of adaptation.• A distressed and risk-taking style of adaptation. This style of adaptation ischaracteristic of only a few students, approximately 7 per cent. Its main featuresare strong involvement in a wide range of risk-taking behaviours, together withhigh levels of depression and anxiety. There is also lack of well-being evident inthe levels of connectedness, cultural stress and perceived lifestyle balance, thoughnot as extreme as in the second style of adaptation.An explanation of this typology and its development is provided below.A wide range of information has been collected in this study, making many differentvariables concerning international student health and well-being variables availablefor examination. The development of scales has allowed some of these to beaggregated into more compact, second-order variables. Nevertheless, the number ofseparate variables, whether taking the form of scales or of single items, is large.Would it be possible to reduce this complexity further, by exploring natural groupingsor clusters within the data? Such groupings would be based on variables drawn fromthe three domains of well-being – relating to others in Australian society, living andstudying in Melbourne, health and health-related behaviour – and would representdifferent styles or modes of adaptation to university study and life in Melbourne.Given the large sample size, the K-means form of cluster analysis was used to explorethe groupings within the data. This permits pair-wise deletion of cases for missingdata, which proved useful in allowing the inclusion of some variables with lowerfrequencies. Standardised forms of the following variables were entered into theanalysis:• scales: Connectedness, Cultural Stress, Abuse and Distress, Depression, Anxiety,Stress, Perceptions of Drug Use, Perceptions of Alcohol Use, Perceptions ofGambling and Smoking;• items: B26 and B21 (financial situation), B12 and D14 (lifestyle balance), B20(more university work than can be coped with), perceived academic progress, useof condoms, number of sexual partners in Australia, involvement in gambling inAustralia, total self-harm, experience of exclusion, general physical health.Solutions using different numbers of clusters were explored. A three-cluster solutionprovides a conceptually meaningful grouping, with the potential to be useful in furtherRussell, Rosenthal & Thomson, 2006 106
Page 5:
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIO
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 36 and 37:
Page 38 and 39:
Page 40 and 41:
Page 42 and 43:
Page 44 and 45:
Page 46 and 47:
Page 48 and 49:
Page 50 and 51:
Page 52 and 53:
Page 54 and 55:
Page 56 and 57:
Page 58 and 59: HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIO
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
Page 168 and 169:
Page 170 and 171:
Page 172 and 173:
Page 174 and 175:
Page 176 and 177:
Page 178 and 179:
Page 180 and 181:
Page 182 and 183:
Page 184 and 185:
Page 186 and 187:
Page 188 and 189:
Page 190:
show all

a growing experience - Student Services - University of Melbourne

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?