What Contributes to Engineering Undergraduates' Subjective Wellbeing? Engineering Faculty Perceptions through an Exploratory Study

Undergraduate engineering is a stressful field of study. Mental health and wellbeing (MHW) play an important role in persistence and academic success in higher education. The research into the MHW of engineering undergraduates is in its infancy with most of the attention focused on contributing factors to mental health problems. There is only a handful of studies investigating positive influences on the MHW of engineering undergraduates which may help mitigate or even prevent mental health problems. Among others, subjective wellbeing (SWB) is one of the areas used by positive psychologists to investigate factors contributing positively to mental health. This study focused on four constructs i.e., academic satisfaction, academic efficacy, school connectedness, and college gratitude that contribute to overall SWB. The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of undergraduate engineering faculty about the contributors to the SWB of their students. Five undergraduate engineering faculty interviews were conducted at a western land grand higher education institution in the fall of 2021 and spring of 2022. Qualitative data from the interviews were thematically analyzed resulting in several emerging themes. Four emerging themes from the interviews highlighted the importance of several contributors to the SWB of engineering undergraduates as perceived by their faculty. These themes pointed towards the importance of student motivation and willingness to interact with their faculty, the flexibility of faculty's attitude, peer interactions, and hands-on learning experiences for future career prospects to be important ingredients for the SWB of engineering undergraduates and ultimately their mental health and wellbeing. The outcomes from this research provide us with insight into what undergraduate faculty perceived to be important to the SWB of their students. These findings may be guides for educational institutions to offer their students an enriched environment to improve their MHW and academic success.