Identifying and Supporting Students with a Chronically Ill Family Member: A Mixed-Methods Study on the Perceived Competences and Role Views of Lecturers

Hinke M. van der Werf (), Wolter Paans, Anneke L. Francke, Petrie F. Roodbol and Marie Louise A. Luttik
Additional contact information
Hinke M. van der Werf: Research Group Nursing Diagnostics, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Petrus Driessenstraat 3, 9714 CA Groningen, The Netherlands
Wolter Paans: Research Group Nursing Diagnostics, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Petrus Driessenstraat 3, 9714 CA Groningen, The Netherlands
Anneke L. Francke: Nivel, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, 3513 CR Utrecht, The Netherlands
Petrie F. Roodbol: Faculty of Medical Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, 9714 CA Groningen, The Netherlands
Marie Louise A. Luttik: Research Group Family Care, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, 9714 CA Groningen, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 6, 1-12

Abstract: Young adult caregivers experience reduced wellbeing when the combination of family care and an educational program becomes too demanding. We aim to clarify the role views, competences, and needs of lecturers regarding the identification and support of these students to prevent negative mental health consequences. A mixed-methods explanatory sequential design was used. We collected quantitative data using a survey of lecturers teaching in bachelor education programs in the Netherlands ( n = 208) and then conducted in-depth interviews ( n = 13). Descriptive statistics and deductive thematic analyses were performed. Most participants (70.2%) thought that supporting young adult caregivers was the responsibility of the educational institution, and 49% agreed that it was a responsibility of the lecturer, but only 66.8% indicated that they feel competent to do so. However, 45.2% indicated that they needed more training and expertise to identify and support these students. All interviewees felt responsible for their students’ wellbeing but highlighted a lack of clarity regarding their role fulfillment. In practice, their ability to identify and support these students depended on their available time and level of expertise. The lecturers required agreements on responsibility and procedures for further referral, as well as information on support and referral opportunities, communication skills courses, and peer-to-peer coaching.

Keywords: young carers; students; support; identifying; lecturers; higher education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/6/4978/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/6/4978/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:6:p:4978-:d:1094756

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().