Taking an Inventory of Thriving: What You Can Do to Stock Graduate and Professional Students' Shelves

• In Event: Mental Health and Graduate Students

Abstract

This study inventories the reported holistic qualities of a thriving student as posited by 2447 graduate and professional students as a means of illustrating the key factors to be considered by decision and policy makers in the educational setting. Findings indicate that thriving is understood by graduate and professional students as a holistic and multi-dimensional construct with multiple subcomponents. Six interconnected and overarching themes emerged from the graduate and professional student data: Being; Connecting; Engaging; Achieving; Balancing; and Enjoying each including the supporting sub-themes that became the items of the inventory. Drawing on the findings, we were able to construct an inventory of thriving to be used by those individuals designing and participating in graduate and professional student programs.

Authors

• Eleftherios Kyprianos Soleas, Queen's University

• Heather Coe-Nesbitt, Queen's University

• Anoushka Moucessian, Queen's University - Kingston

• Nadia S. Arghash, Queen's University