Tools to advance towards the creation of healthier research careers

The publication has been coordinated by Anna Muro, researcher from the Department of Basic, Developmental, and Educational Psychology, and María Paola Jiménez-Villamizar, PhD student from the same department.

Starting from articles by researchers at UAB and different European universities, the book addresses the mental health issues and well-being management within academic and research environments, as well as the silence that still surrounds mental health in said environments. A group specially affected by those is that of the young researchers, who suffer the most from the instability and contractual uncertainty within a researcher's career. According to a study recently published by the two researchers and Antoni Sanz, all of them members of the Grup de Recerca en Estrès i Salut (GEIS), between 32 and 42% of PhD students have a particularly high risk of developing psychopathological disorders.

"There is increasingly more conscience of the necessity of applying emotional and stress management within the academic and research career, through actions that favour social cohesion to avoid isolation, a broader, more realistic perspective of a researcher career to be successful, well-being, and a healthy lifestyle, as physical as well as emotional, to equilibrate your professional and personal life," explains Anna Muro.

The authors explain the model of prevention and promotion of self-care characteristic of positive psychology, a branch of psychology that studies the processes of welfare and vital satisfaction. At the same time, they present the different strategies and techniques based on evidence being tested at local and European scales to promote positive mental health and reduce stigma.

One of the chapters is dedicated to a strategy that researchers are carrying out at UAB following the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly increased the mental health issues among young researchers. The Third Time program comes from a tradition from rugby and other sports in which, when the game ends, the opponents share a more informal space, which favours fraternity, respect among others, and the management of feelings and emotions. The psychoeducational intervention has been carried out for two school years in the university with positive results: it improves the emotional welfare, academic motivation, and working climate of the young researchers and reduces the risks of suffering anxiety-depressive symptomatology during the doctorate.

"However, we still need many studies and, more importantly, more compromises of the formative and research institutions to implement this kind of evidence-based action. We are in a very semial phase, trying to sensibilize and demonstrate that investing in mental health is a systemic action that benefits not only the individual but also their environment and institutions, creating kinder, more motivated working climates," says Anna Muro, who designed the program and coordinates it.

You can freely access, towards the creation of healthier research careers, following this link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374677725_The_Third_Half_BOOK