When university students face the possibility of dismissal for low academic performance, their sense of self and well-being are likely to suffer. They may have already met with their academic advisor about their grades, but in many cases have not received the psychological support to deal with their situation.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, are investigating the correlation between physiological distress and poor grades, and have developed a program designed to help their low-performing students by addressing both needs at once.
The Goals in Action research project, or GIA, fuses the work of the university’s academic support office with the efforts of the student health and wellness department to address social, behavioral and psychological functioning, both inside and outside the classroom.
Principle investigator Dr. Daniel Singley, a psychologist who piloted the program in the spring quarter of 2006 along with his colleague Dr. Jeanne Manese, is already seeing positive results.
“Students are showing very good results. They are getting a full GPA (point) higher, and show improvements in their psycho-social ability,” he says. GIA participants increased their average GPA from 1.2 at the beginning of the 2006-07 academic year up to 2.2 by the January start of the winter 2007 quarter. Singley rated the students’ psycho-social ability with a before and after program survey.
GIA students participate in a series of five 75-minute workshops facilitated by personnel from Psychological and Counseling Services. If there is a need, students can obtain additional psychological services outside of the workshops.
“That’s the exception, not the rule. But it is a perk to get students who underutilize our services to talk to a counselor,” says Singley.
