Meta Well-Being: Collective Approaches to Community Care for Emerging Well-Being Scholars
Principal Investigator: Paris Wicker (University at Buffalo- SUNY)
Description: The purpose of this study is to address the well-being crisis in higher education by exploring the role of community care in supporting scholars' emotional well-being. Our focus is on understanding the socialization of well-being scientists in academia, identifying key factors that contribute to the success of well-being workshops, and examining how these factors support the development of emerging scientists. We are conducting focus groups with workshop participants, organizers, and speakers to uncover common themes and experiences from the 2023 Plasticity of Well-being Summer Workshop. Additionally, follow-up one-on-one interviews will be held with workshop organizers and attendees to delve deeper into their insights and perspectives on fostering well-being for well-being scientists. This study is guided by two research questions:
- How did the participants describe the Plasticity of well-being convening as supporting their well-being experiences as emerging scientists?
- What were the properties/elements of the workshop that were most supportive of the success of the workshop?
This project will identify factors that best support the collective and relational socialization and professional development of well-being scientists to create theoretical and conceptual frameworks to model pre and post-doctoral care and community for those that study well-being. More concretely we also plan to develop best practices for researchers and institutions of higher education to more intentionally create policy and programming to support researcher social and emotional well-being.
Project Role: Principal Investigator
