Bazrafkan 2016
Bazrafkan 2016
content analysis design with a conventional Table. Themes and Subthemes Used
approach was also used to analyze the data. in the Interview
First, in content analysis, semantic units should
be specified, and the related codes should be Themes Subthemes
extracted and categorized based on their sim-
Thesis as a major Selection of a good idea or
ilarity.19 Finally, when the information is highly source of stress topic for thesis
abstracted, themes can be determined. To give Ambiguity in thesis stages
structure and discipline to the data, content Lack of resources
Poor writing
analysis method was used to verify whether Supervisor’s Nonresponsive supervisors
certain words and concepts exist in the text. relationship Ineffective evaluation
In the conventional approach, the use of pre- Lack of feedback
Socioeconomic Busy life
arranged classes is avoided, and classes and problem Lack of enough finances
their names are permitted to directly come out Fear of unemployment
of the data. For this, manuscript of interviews after graduation
Stress, anxiety, and depression
was read and recorded and listened for several Coping with Efficient communication with
times afterward until the overall goal was stress and someone
achieved. Then, the manuscript was read in anxiety Internet, music, and movies
Excessive information
words, and the codes were extracted. In addi- Finalizing the thesis
tion, interviews were continued with others
to continue coding of the texts, and subcodes
were categorized within the general topics. explained to the participants, and informed
Then, similar codes were classified in cate- consent was obtained to interview and record
gories.17,18 To make sure about the accuracy them. Because of ethical considerations, at all
of the data, we used peer review, the re- stages of the research, the data remained con-
searchers’ adequacy, check member, and the fidential. Participants had permission to leave
long and continuing evaluation through in- the study at any time they wanted.
depth, prolonged, and repeated interviews
by the participants, using the colleagues’ com-
ments to increase the dependability and con- RESULTS
firmability approved by maximum variation of
data in the sampling. In addition, to increase The mean age of the students in this study
the power of data transferability, adequate was 31.54 ± 8.60 years, and all of them were
explanation of the data was provided in the married. The main categories of data included
research for critical review of the findings by ‘‘thesis as a major sources of stress,’’ ‘‘supervi-
other researchers.20,21 sor’s relationship,’’ ‘‘socioeconomic problem,’’
The number of initial codes was decreased, and ‘‘coping with stress and anxiety.’’
reaching 654 codes finally. These codes were Thesis as a major source of stress
summarized and classified into 4 main cate-
gories and 11 subcategories on the thematic Thesis as a major source of stress was one
coding stage dependent on conceptual simi- of the important results obtained from the
larities and differences. The major themes participants. The subthemes that emerged in
included ‘‘thesis as a major source of stress,’’ this category included factors related to selec-
‘‘supervisor relationship,’’ ‘‘socioeconomic tion of a good idea or topic for thesis, time man-
problem,’’ and ‘‘coping with stress and anxiety’’ agement, lack of resources, and poor writing.
(Table).
Selection of a good idea or topic
Ethical considerations for thesis
This study is approved by the ethics com- In the participants’ views, it is a fact that
mittee of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. the thesis should be the highest achievement
The goal of the research and interview was of their studies and will influence the trend of
academic life and future career for many . . .It’s not enough to punish yourself
years. It will take years to write and perhaps or feel guilty, when you don’t meet a goal;
organize it for publication. Therefore, some you should notice the reasons of your fail-
factors in the choice of the topic should be ure to attain the goals in future. . .. (partic-
considered in addition to the student’s ability ipant no. 5)
to do it; it actually determines the course and
line of his or her academic life in the future.
Poor writing
Therefore, some factors should be considered
so that the student can choose a topic that can For some students, writing is a very simple
be done by him or her and also determine his and easy process, but for others, basic mis-
or her future research approaches. takes can lead to failure in paper publica-
One of the students said, ‘‘My supervisor tion. Some of the most frequent mistakes that
offered me a subject that I did not like it, and students experience while writing their PhD
he forced me to do it and after some time I thesis were related to research methodology,
realized that my he had not anticipated many designing the results in a logical manner, and
of the problems in that research. . ..’’ concluding the research. Students do their
According to the participants’ experiences best to accomplish the job, but they often do
in the area of research activities, faculty mem- have problems in writing the thesis. Many
bers and medical students have severe weak- students will normally present facts and ideas
nesses in defining high-quality problems, novelty as new because they have not done adequate
and originality of research, choice of a suit- amount of research to realize that the work
able method for research, data analysis, ex- they are quoting was accomplished several
planation of results, and writing systematic years earlier. This sometimes leads one to
papers, and there is no logical and compiled think that the student is idle and does not
program to improve research capabilities. spend much time on the work as he or she
Determining the faculty members’ and stu- should have. It gives the supervisors the im-
dents’ role in thesis activities can lead to im- pression that the student does not take the job
provement of individuals in their competency as seriously as he or she should. One of the
in research. students said:
. . .When I started writing my PhD thesis,
Time management
everything was very good, but over time,
The other problem that was emphasized was problems came up and I felt I could not write
time management by students at universities. an article and publish it in a timely manner;
Writing a thesis requires both short-term and it led to my failure. . .. (student no. 2)
long-term time management skills because it
is a lengthy project that should be done with- Lack of resources
out artificial deadlines. One of the students
stated: Another problem that was emphasized by
most of the students was financial support of
. . .I see many students who are brilliant the students by universities and inadequate
but they just never finalize their thesis. . .. managerial procedures for limited right of entry
to information resources. The students who
Students wish to have a practical guide to write the thesis pay much but do not receive
writing thesis and a knowledgeable director adequate support. One of the students who
of graduate programs. Another way of measur- had experienced many problems in tentative
ing efficiency is to break the thesis into pub- research said:
lishable parts. Setting realistic, measurable goals
is the key, but learning occurs over time and . . .Because I had to use an apparatus
prevents one from meeting goals. One of the which is not available in our country—and
physiology students said: you know that universities don’t have any
Most students described the haphazard nature PhD students usually have busy lives and
of supervision, particularly by clinical faculty different problems and situations of life such
members who often disregard a clear timetable. as marriage, childbearing, and working to earn
income while studying. These cause problems
. . .I worked hard, and read a lot of papers
that reduce their psychological capacity to
because of the fear of response of the super-
cope; one of the students said:
visor, but unfortunately. . .I didn’t know the
answers to his questions—and then he got ‘‘. . .When you are writing a thesis, it is
more and more angry. (student no. 5) probable that a major life change may occur,
for example, disease, a new relationship,
The workload of supervisors was the other becoming parents or something that needs
problem for the relationship of supervisor and accurate management. . .I was attempting
supervisee. Because of the lack of time, thesis to plan my wedding while carrying out the
supervisors are unable to properly guide the last experiments for a script that needed to be
students as well as carry out their regular duties. submitted the day after. . .. ’’(student no. 7)
The rationale in such situation lies in the stu-
dents’ overload in universities and the impro- Insufficient finances
per proportion of students and supervisors.
Participants’ experience shows that PhD stu-
Ineffective evaluation dents are either employed or looking for a job,
and they work to make a living. If they are
One of the key problems of thesis supervi- married and have the responsibility of a family,
sion at the universities is nonstandard evalua- the problem is more complicated. They need
tion criteria, lack of expertise in thesis decision more free time to manage the family affairs
making and scoring, and inadequate standards while the university requires them to attend
in supervision and assessment of the quality of the faculties full time. This leads to conflict.
faculty members’ guidance.
Fear of unemployment after
. . .approximately, I did not sense any
graduation
supervision of my work; I myself chose a
topic, worked on it by error and trial, and When students are to finalize their educa-
after all distress, I presented my thesis. . .. tion, some of them are worried about jobs,
(student no. 4) unemployment, and the potential inability to
work in the field of education proportionate to stress, depression, and anxiety. A powerful
their own dignity. They are also concerned about method for dealing with anxiety is removing
their parents for their education investment, but negative moods or reducing the body tension
they may not be able to compensate their troubles. by efficient communication with someone,
They are concerned a great deal about their such as a friend, colleague, or family member.
opportunities and career plans and the fact
. . .I think my university experience was
that college has imposed some expenses on
one of the superior ones—my supervisors
their parents.
were not appropriate for friendly communi-
. . .It’s been a while that I am graduated cation and stress release. They had high
but not employed anywhere yet. It is about expectation of PhD students but were them-
7 or 8 months that I’ve been extremely selves under a lot of pressure to achieve
depressed with having no motivation for something. . . (student no. 1)
living. Most of the time, I feel sad and tired.
I feel alone. It’s hard to make a living. I only Internet, music, and movies
like to sleep. I’ve referred to a counselor. He Students described a variety of ways of
advised me a little which didn’t have any coping, including physical activities, self-
impacts on me. I’ve also referred to a psy- talk, meditation, and listening to music to
chiatrist and took anti-depression medica- help deal with their feelings. Their experi-
tion. That was not effective either. I myself ences show that some of them escape from
know that my problem is not serotonin. It is their current situation with music, movies, or
all because of future darkness and hopeless- surfing to reduce stress.
ness. . .. (student no. 14)
. . .I talk or chat with my friend on net; I
try to forget the problem and change the
Stress, anxiety, and depression
anxiety to excitement. . . (student no. 6)
All students participating in the study had
However, based on the findings of this study,
experienced some degree of stress, anxiety, or
these methods provide temporary help only,
depression. Some people were only nervous,
and very soon, the individuals are again worried.
but most of them had experienced headaches,
stomach aches, digestive problems, fatigue, Search for excessive information
insomnia, and panic attacks. More participants
fully recovered after graduation, but some still According to the participants’ experiences,
see the nightmares of those hard days and have when they have a problem, they try to collect
it in mind. data for more information on the subject and
One of the students told: ‘‘. . .I had never make an attempt to fix the problem; some-
experienced so much stress and anxiety dur- times, it is a problem of gathering lots of infor-
ing all my life. All systems of my body were mation that they do not exactly know how to
disturbed. I was always crying because, I use them. A student of medical education said:
felt. . .I’m dying. . ..’’ . . .I started searching a lot for an alter-
native methodology for the thesis and I
Coping with stress and anxiety learned much about my subject and new
This subtheme of coping with stress and technology in this area; it actually increased
anxiety concerned efficient communication; my depth of knowledge. But this method is
Internet, music, and movies; excessive infor- wasting the time and not useful for students. . .
mation gathering; and finalizing the thesis. (student no. 8)
academic writing is completing a thesis and Academic workload was the major source of
graduating. Most students say that they have stress for the interviewed college students, as
finally come to the conclusion that they should reported in other studies.15 Walker et al24
as soon as possible get rid of this problem by argued that doctoral education programs must
working more, avoiding laziness, and taking be well planned to prepare the PhD students
their own time in addressing this dilemma. as ‘‘stewards of the discipline,’’ who innova-
The problem is that some students do not have tively create new knowledge and critically
sufficient competence to complete this task. protect valuable ideas.
They offer different reasons for this matter. The second category was supervisors’ rela-
The participants’ experiences revealed that tionship, nonresponsive or ineffective supervi-
ineffective communication and absence of sory evaluation, and lack of sufficient feedback
positive pattern and professional behavior can for correction of work. Ineffective evaluation
lead to negative behavior formation in stu- and lack of sufficient feedback, which emerge
dents; the outcome is a student incompetent from nonresponsive supervisors, unprofessional
in thesis writing. To solve this problem, it is behaviors, and configuration of negative inter-
necessary to pay attention to different ethical actions among supervisor and supervisee, lead
aspects in the research supervision process. to exhausted and depressed students. More-
One of the students said: over, in this study, the participants, both male
and female, complained of fatigue and physical
. . .for example, if I have an assignment to
distress. Another study reported that female
do that I’m really stressed about, I try to
students demonstrated a large and significant
enjoy the process a little more, rather than
increase in emotional distress, such as stress,
disturbing about producing the end result.
fatigue, anxiety, depression, headache, gastro-
Listening to music has really helped me to
intestinal symptoms, and pain, more often
calm down and forget my problems. . ..
than their male peers.25
The supervisory relationship is the key ele-
DISCUSSION ment of guidance in thesis writing. In this
regard, many studies revealed that good super-
This study addressed stress, anxiety, and visor’s relationship and effective evaluation,
coping strategies among PhD students in along with constructive feedback, can improve
Iranian medical sciences universities. Thesis the students’ mental health.8,26 Attaran and
as a major source of stress was one of the colleagues,26 in a study on the optimal satis-
important results obtained from the partici- faction of the student’s relationship with su-
pants. Subthemes emerging in this category pervisor, showed that more than 53% of PhD
include factors related to selection of a good graduates were dissatisfied about their rela-
idea or topic for thesis, ambiguity in the thesis tionships with supervisors.
stage, time management problems, lack of Evans and Stevenson27 pointed out that the
resources, and poor writing style. For the first quality of research supervision experiences is
category, selection of a good idea or topic for mainly influenced by 2 factors: the level of
thesis, ambiguity in thesis guidance, lack of simplicity in expectations and the support
resources, and poor writing skills are included. given to students’ supervisors. They recom-
Accordingly, based on the participants’ views, mend that supervisors’ guidance activities at
PhD students’ stress and anxiety are more re- micro and macro levels will guide the students
lated to thesis and supervisors. These problems throughout the hard and mystifying pathways
are particularly about selection of a good idea of research so that each research project can
or topic for a thesis, ambiguity in thesis guid- create a personal vision.
ance, student’s research project lacking struc- According to the participants, in this re-
ture, and sufficient supportive planning. This search, lack of time and accessibility of the
result is in line with other studies, for exam- supervisor, due to having multiple academic
ple, that presented by Ghadirian et al.22,23 and nonacademic duties in multiple activities
such as teaching, were the other problems. In academic performance, mental health, and
another study in Iran, it was found that super- subjective well-being or happiness. How-
visors work in public and private clinics in ever, some studies suggest that stress man-
addition to their academic activities; thus, lim- agement courses and mindfulness based on
ited time is left for supervising and guiding the stress reduction will be effective in decreasing
students.23 the stress among students.3,31,32
The third category was related to socio- The limitations of this research included
economic problems and subcategories of busy limited access to students from other univer-
life and busy students, shortage of finances, sities in the country. Another limitation was
and fear of unemployment after graduation. difficulty of some students in stating their actual
Curriculum overload and excessive academic problems, due to some considerations with
assignments bring about specific social and regard to their universities.
economic problems for PhD students, who
like to be independent in this age. These prob-
lems include inability to satisfy the family mem- IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY
bers’ demands and also worrying about the
lack of financial resources and future career. The findings of the current study confirmed
Several other researchers have reported of the existence of stress and anxiety in PhD
changes in atmosphere, teaching methods and students and recommended directions for re-
strategy, and academic achievement criteria ducing and coping with stress; in addition,
as reasons for stress in medical sciences some suggestions were provided as to thesis
students.8,14 writing strategies. Initially, there is a need for
Unfortunately, this problem is created by PhD students and administrators to increase
disproportionate social needs and the number their awareness about these stressors and
of university admissions. The prevalence of creatively use stress management strategies.
depression among teens holding educational Second, there is a need for postgraduate stu-
degrees but not having related jobs has harm- dents to better understand the thesis as a jour-
ful effects on the society. ney and know the stress factors related to it.
The researchers in this study recommended Finally, both faculty members and students
that we should build a critical and reflective need to discover ways to decrease stressors
community of postgraduate supervisors who and to increase capabilities in dealing with
can develop their supervisory practice through these stressors. Faculty members and super-
reflective conversations. Socioeconomic prob- visors should assess the stressors and help the
lems, busy lives, and fear of unemployment PhD students cope with them by using critical
after graduation were the strongest reasons thinking and problem-solving methods. In ad-
of students’ fear and anxiety, as revealed in dition, training in metacognitive skills such as
other studies.28,29 critical thinking skills and problem solving
To cope with stress and anxiety, the stu- should be considered.
dents have resorted to efficient communica-
tion with friends or other caring persons, Web
searching, music and movies, excessive infor- CONCLUSIONS
mation, and finalizing the thesis. When students
are tired and anxious, they often purposely Stress, anxiety, and coping among PhD
surf Web sites related to their topics, and some students in the thesis supervision process
of them listen to music and watch movies until are caused by the thesis as a major source of
finally the completion of their work reduces stress, relationships with supervisors, and so-
exhaustion and stress. cioeconomic problems, which emerge from
Lepp et al’s30 findings add to the debate the inappropriate and unstructured context
about the use of cellular phones by students and the educational atmosphere in which
and how excessive use may negatively impact the tasks and duties of individuals are not clear
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