Research article: mental health problems in PhD students

Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students by Katia Levecque and colleagues was recently (2017) published in Research Policy.
Using a web-based questionnaire and a sample of several thousand PhD students in Belgium, their work indicated that one in two PhD students experienced psychological distress, and that one in three was at risk of a common psychiatric disorder (especially depression).


I was already aware of other research from Australia (ABS 2007), indicating that one in five people could expect to experience a mental health problem (of varying severity) in a 12-month period. This study, however, focuses in more detail on PhD students.


They authors ask: what can research policymakers do?, and suggest the following:
- raise awareness
- assess policies for the extent to which research funding and employment conditions alleviate or exacerbate risks to mental health
- improve protections for those with mental health problems.


Levecque et al. 2017. Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students. Research Policy 46: 868-879. 


Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2007). National Survey of Mental Health and Well-being: Summary of results. Catalogue No. 4326.0. Canberra, ACT: Australian Bureau of Statistics.