Making people appy

This article reflects on the use of mobile phones to support self-help for anxiety. It draws on the experience of developing a prototype phone app for social anxiety in learning situations. Psychological and therapeutic factors are considered in relation to the design and usability of a self-help app. Areas for further reflection and research in developing apps for anxiety are identified

Older adult students in their first year at university: Challenges, resources and support

This study surveyed the experiences of older adult students in their first year at university. It describes the personal and academic challenges they faced; the psychological resources they applied or acquired to meet those challenges; and the forms of support they drew on during the year. 22 students aged 30 to 61 years completed free-text questionnaires about challenges, resources and support at three points in the academic year. Thematic analysis of participant responses indicated three main areas of challenge: the meaning of university, issues of ability and achievement, and concerns about balancing demands. Individual motivations for study were maintained through the initial emotional impact of becoming a student and despite doubts about being able to manage. Ambitions for academic achievement met with anxieties about ability, workload, study support and age differences. Participants were concerned about balancing demands from home and work with those from their programme of study. Thus the challenges were both organisational and indicative of competing emotional commitments.Participants drew on a range of psychosocial resources to meet these challenges. Central to these were their life experience, their enthusiasm for learning, their ability to work with others and their mature self-awareness which enabled specific coping strategies. Robust support for personal and academic concerns was provided by family, friends and fellow students while participants reported a more varied experience of support and guidance from the university.The findings were discussed in relation to the literature on responding to personal challenges, the life-stages of students, and the implications for the support of older adult students. The findings suggest that most - though not all - older adult students enter higher education with a significant psychosocial resource pool and/or the determination to acquire the resources and support they need to achieve their academic goals

Evaluating a personal questionnaire method for the appraisal of student concerns: A pilot study

The aim of this project was to evaluate the use of personal questionnaires as a form of enquiry into the individual experience of university students, and as a possible guide to student support processes. The general background to the work is a university initiative to develop research into student counselling and psychological support, within which the project starts to address the systematic understanding of student needs and concerns.A rationale for the use of personal questionnaires with student populations was considered in comparison with features of psychometric approaches to the assessment of psychological variables in clinical and educational settings. This pilot study intended to explore how students engage with personal questionnaires in a range of university settings, and to obtain evaluations of participating students and associated staff relating to the impact, relevance and utility of personal questionnaires.Trials of personal questionnaire formats were conducted in three academic and four support sites over a three-month period in the latter half of the academic year. One hundred and seventeen students participated in questionnaire trials on two university campuses; eleven staff in advisory and counselling settings participated in evaluation interviews. Outcomes were analysed using descriptive statistics of questionnaire use and a content summary of semi-structured interviews.Allowing for the stated limitations of the project, including the small quantity of student feedback, the findings indicate that personal questionnaires enable students to present an authentic account of experiences subject to the influence of personal and contextual variables. Interview data suggest that these include level of emotional arousal, the motivation to engage in self-reflection, and the availability of a reflective space or facilitating relationship.Based on these findings, proposals are made for more extensive and specific research into personal questionnaire use with students; and for consideration of their integration as elements in the overall appraisal of student support

Feeling stupid: A survey of university students’ experience of social anxiety in learning situations

In this study, 300 university students at UWE Bristol reported on their experiences of social anxiety in learning situations. Participants were self-selected using an initial screening tool and were invited to complete a web-based questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were prepared and student comments were organised using qualitative content analysis. The findings were consistent with previous research and models of social anxiety, and suggested that for a significant minority of students social anxiety related to learning situations is a persistent, hidden disability across the university community.Social anxiety was reported to be an emotionally painful and inhibiting element in a range of learning situations and there were strong indications that it affected the scope and quality of learning. The fear of exposure and consequent concealment that is associated with social anxiety meant that student social anxieties tended to be overlooked or misunderstood.Participants responded to their anxieties with strategies ranging from the pragmatic to the nihilistic and, while many coped and even benefited from challenging situations, there was a sizeable minority for whom the student experience was a continuing struggle with anxiety and its impact. Participants did not experience an intentional and organised approach to their concerns while at university and this was exacerbated by their own unwillingness to seek professional help or social support.Based on the study findings and its congruence with previous work, the following recommendations were made with regard to research, teaching and learning, and student support:With regard to research:i. Establish objective indices of the impact of social anxiety on learning.ii. Obtain data on developmental processes in social anxiety and evaluate the contribution of the university community to these.iii. Explore the meaning and function of student coping strategies and what role external factors play in altering these.iv. Develop and trial a method of profiling learning-related social anxiety.v. Collate research on help-seeking processes and barriers with a view to trial interventions in facilitating engagement.3With regard to teaching and learning:i. Teaching and learning committees to discuss a strategic approach to student social anxiety.ii. Academic support systems such as Blackboard used to raise awareness of anxieties affecting learning and to offer pathways to support.iii. Individual and group contact with academic staff to be used for guidance and skills practice.iv. Staff development to include understanding and working with student social anxiety.With regard to student support:i. Student services web pages to offer self-appraisal tools and pathways to information and support.ii. Professional development on the dynamics of social anxiety and its impact on helping relationships.iii. Student services to provide opportunities for students to practice academic skills.iv. The counselling service to consider screening student clients for social anxiety as part of initial meetings.v. The counselling service to consider the optimal use of evidence-based therapies for social anxiety.These recommendations were presented as inter-related and intended to encourage an integrated approach to social anxiety and learning across the university

Using personal questionnaires in a facilitated learning group

This project contributes a final trial to the appraisal of personal questionnaires conducted at UWE Bristol between October and April 2007. 13 psychology undergraduates in a Facilitated Learning Group completed personal questionnaires at the start of their first term at university, assigning monthly ratings of personal and academic concerns up to the start of the third term. At the end of the project period, participants were invited to write a reflective account linked to the questionnaire record and to complete an evaluation of the questionnaire.Analytical and presentational reporting of the data illustrated participants’ engagement with personal questionnaires and provided a basis for their appraisal. Quantitative and qualitative outcomes showed that students can use personal questionnaires to record a range of concerns and to assign valid ratings to their variation over time. Discernable patterns of change across participants may indicate areas for further research into the student experience. Reflective accounts linked to questionnaire records supported the validity of questionnaire content while suggesting that they indicate rather than capture the depth and complexity of personal processes in student development. Participants reported that the questionnaires were relevant and easy to use, and that for some participants they were helpful in monitoring concerns and highlighting areas for action.The outcomes were discussed in relation to the parent study, issues around engaging students in self-report procedures, and support for these by university staff. It was recommended that the strengths of personal questionnaires may be most usefully applied in researching the student experience, as an aid to student self-reflection and monitoring in academic support settings, and as a tool for systematic evaluation in psychological counselling

Project SAM: Developing an app to provide self-help for anxiety

An interdisciplinary team at the University of the West of England (UWE) was commissioned and funded to develop a mobile phone app which would provide self-help options for the management of mild to moderate anxiety. The completed app would extend the range and availability of psychological support for student well-being at UWE and other higher education institutions.The project team consisted of two computer scientists and one psychologist who were responsible for the technical, functional and clinical specification of the app. A local mobile app development company was appointed and the teams collaborated on the design, build and evaluation of the app. The self-help structure and components were developed in consultation with therapeutic practitioners, in and out of UWE. The developer team advised on and constructed multi-media features to realise the self-help aims of the app.The UWE project team promoted an iterative approach to development, evaluating each stage of development through trials with expert users, practitioners and students. The app, named SAM (Self-help for Anxiety Management), was developed for Apple and Android operating systems, to be usable on smartphones and tablets. SAM was launched in the app stores in July 2013, globally available and free to download for the first year of operation. It was promoted to students, educational institutions, mental health organisations and charities as well as a range of professional and informal contacts. A UWE-based Advisory Board was convened to oversee the maintenance and development of the university’s investment in SAM. Members include the project team, researchers, therapists and other staff with an interest in its use to support student well-being. Three key tasks of the Board are to ensure SAM’s financial sustainability, to oversee developments in its usability and self-help components, and to obtain funding for the evaluation of its therapeutic impact

Social anxiety in learning: Stages of change in a sample of UK undergraduates

© 2014 UCU. Social anxiety in learning is prevalent amongst traditional-age students and has a marked effect on their engagement with higher education. It receives little attention from academic or support services and there is a presumption that students will manage their anxieties. Yet it is unclear what psychosocial resources they might bring to this task and how these may develop through the undergraduate years. This study sought to identify possible change processes in student social anxiety by analysing qualitative responses obtained from Level 2 undergraduate students (n=39) in relation to their experience of learning situations such as lectures, seminars and group presentations. Thematic analysis suggested a four-stage developmental progression for students in terms of their experience and orientation to coping with social anxiety. Implications for staff development and student support are outlined

Developing policies for the end-of-life of energy infrastructure: Coming to terms with the challenges of decommissioning

Energy sector policies have focused historically on the planning, design and construction of energy infrastructures, while typically overlooking the processes required for the management of their end-of-life, and particularly their decommissioning. However, decommissioning of existing and future energy infrastructures is constrained by a plethora of technical, economic, social and environmental challenges that must be understood and addressed if such infrastructures are to make a net-positive contribution over their whole life. Here, we introduce the magnitude and variety of these challenges to raise awareness and stimulate debate on the development of reasonable policies for current and future decommissioning projects. Focusing on power plants, the paper provides the foundations for the interdisciplinary thinking required to deliver an integrated decommissioning policy that incorporates circular economy principles to maximise value throughout the lifecycle of energy infrastructures. We conclude by suggesting new research paths that will promote more sustainable management of energy infrastructures at the end of their life

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Emotions and learning: In praise of a forum

21 staff and students from across the university participated in an invited forum organised under the UWE Student Experience Programme. The subject of ‘Emotions, Learning and Student Development’ was explored through stimulus presentations, structured small group and facilitated plenary discussions. Analysis of the discussion notes suggested six themes for further consideration: Diversity; Becoming a student; Emotions; UWE community; Student autonomy; Staff-student relationships.Participant feedback was positive about the affective experience of the forum and about the value of forums for inter-professional dialogue around the student experience. There was strong support for a further forum with a clear focus. It is proposed that future events might attend to (a) The role of emotions in learning and (b) Working relationships between staff and students