解决STEM的毒品和博士后研究人员之间的心理健康危机
Summary
The growingmental-healthcrisis在科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）博士学位和博士后研究人员中，科学与技术在美国威胁着未来和竞争力。联邦政府应通过采用四部分的方法来解决这一危机（i）（i）改善STEM中心理健康斗争的基本驱动因素的数据收集，（ii）劝阻压力永久的行为和文化，（iii）要求（iii）（III）（III）（III）（III）（PIS）提交有关其指导理念的声明，作为联邦支持的研究补助金的申请的一部分，（iv）增加对托管前和博士后研究人员的心理健康护理的机会。
Challenge and Opportunity
The prevalence of mental-health problems ishigheramong Ph.D. students than in the highly educated general population: fully half of Ph.D. students experience psychological distress. In asurveyof postdoctoral researchers conducted byNature, 51% of respondents reported considering leaving science due to work-related mental-health concerns. 65% of respondents reported experiencing power imbalances or bullying during their postdoctoral appointments, and 74% reported observing the same. Stress accumulation not only leads to the development of neuropsychiatric disorders among the developing STEM workforce — it alsocontributes to burnout。At a time when advancing U.S. competitiveness in science and technology is of utmost importance, the mental-health crisis is depleting our nation’s STEM pipeline when we should be expanding and diversifying it. This is a crisis that the federal government is well-positioned to and must solve.
Plan of Action
联邦政府应该对抗mental-health crisis for U.S. doctoral and postdoctoral researchers through a four-part approach to (i) improve data collection on the underlying drivers of mental-health struggles in STEM, (ii) discourage behaviors that perpetuate stress, (iii) require PIs to submit a statement of their mentoring philosophy as part of applications for federally supported research grants, and (iv) increase access to mental-health care for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers. Detailed recommendations associated with each of these steps are provided below.
Part 1. Improve data collection
数据推动了公共政策。Variousorganizationsconductsurveys评估STEM中博士和博士后研究人员的心理健康，但是调查设计，目标受众以及随后的随访和监测是不一致的。这种零散的信息生态系统使得很难整合并根据STEM中的心理健康数据采取行动。为了更全面地了解美国的STEM心理健康局势，美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）和国家科学基金会（NSF）应该共同进行和发布对心理健康状况的每两年一次评估STEM劳动力。调查格式可以在NSF上建模Survey of Doctorate Recipientsor theSurvey of Earned Doctorates— and, like those surveys, resultant data could be maintained at NSF under theNational Center for Science and Engineering Statistics。建立后，调查的数据可用于跟踪实施的计划的有效性，并指示联邦政府更改或开始新的计划，以改变博士和博士后研究人员的需求。此外，NSF和NIH可以与HHS中的医生合作，以定义并确定“健康”在心理健康指南方面的意义，以建立新的计划指南和目标。
第2部分。劝阻有问题的行为
The future of a doctoral or postdoctoral researcher depends considerably on the researcher’s professional relationship with their PI(s). Problems in the relationship — including bullying, harassment, and discrimination — can put a trainee in a difficult situation, as the trainee may worry that confronting the PI could compromise their career opportunities. The federal government can take three steps to discourage these problematic behaviors by requiring PIs to submit and implement training and mentorship plans for all grant-supported trainees.
首先，白宫科学技术政策办公室（OSTP）应组成一个心理学，社会科学和人力资源专业人士委员会，以定义在学术工作环境中构成欺凌和骚扰的行为。该委员会的调查结果应通过网络门户（类似于NSF网站类似Sexual Harassment), and included in all requests for grant applications issued by federal STEM-funding agencies (in order to raise awareness among PIs).
Second, federal STEM-funding agencies should require universities to submit annual reports of bullying to federal, grant-issuing agencies. NSF already requires institutions to report findings of sexual harassment and other forms of harassment and can revoke grants if a grantee is found culpable. NSF and other STEM-funding agencies should add clarity to thisdefinition并扩大该报告，包括欺凌和报复，包括PIS的欺凌和报复尝试，对重复犯罪产生了类似的后果。Reinstatement of privileges (e.g., reinstatement of eligibility for federal grant funding) would be considered on a case-by-case basis by the grant-issuing institution and could be made contingent on implementation of an adequate “re-entry” plan by the PI’s home institution. The NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research should be consulted to help formulate such “re-entry” plans to benefit both researchers and PIs.
Third, STEM-funding agencies could work together to establish a mechanism whereby trainees can anonymously report problematic PI behaviors. NSF has acomplaint form对于那些希望为inciden报告事件ts of sexual harassment or harassment. Thus, NSF could expand their system to accept broader incidents such as bullying and retaliation attempts and NIH could use this complaint form as a template for reporting as well. In conjunction with reporting misconduct, a “two-strike” accountability system should be imposed if a PI is found guilty of harassment, bullying, or other behaviors that could contribute to the development of a neuropsychiatric disorder. After receiving a first strike (report of problematic behavior and a guilty verdict), the PI would be given a warning and be required to participate in relevant training workshops and counseling using a plan outlined by social science professionals at NIH. If a second strike is received, the PI would lose privileges to apply for federal grant funding and opportunities to serve on committees that are often favored for tenure and promotion, such as grant review committees. Again, reinstatement of privileges would be considered on a case-by-case basis by the grant-issuing institution and could be made contingent on implementation of an adequate “re-entry” plan.
Part 3. Require submission of mentoring philosophies
NIHF31predoctoral andF32postdoctoral award applications already require PIs to submit mentoring plans for their trainees to receive professional-development training. Federal STEM-funding agencies should build on this precedent by requiring PIs applying for federal grants to submit not just mentoring plans, but brief summaries of their mentoring philosophies. As the University of Colorado Boulderexplains, a mentoring philosophy
“……定义了[导师]与学生互动的方法，因为他们（他们）指导他们的个人成长和专业发展，经常解释[导师]通过个人叙事进行指导的动机，同时强调他们成功的关系和更广泛的社会影响的目标。这些陈述也可以被视为“活着的文件”，这些陈述被更新为[导师]完善[[他们的]方法以及[他们的工作]工作的上下文和目标。”
Mentoring philosophies help guide development of and updates to individualized mentoring plans. Mentoring philosophiesalsopromote equity and inclusion among mentees by providing a common starting point for communication and expectations. Requiring PIs to create mentoring philosophies will elevate mental health among doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in STEM by promoting effective top-down mentorship and discouraging unintended marginalization. And since agrowing数字ofuniversityfacultyare already creating mentoring philosophies, this new requirement shouldn’t be seen as just another administrative burden; rather, it would serve as a means to quickly perpetuate a best practice that is already spreading. The federal government can support PIs in adhering to this new requirement by working with external partners to collect and broadly share resources related to preparing mentoring philosophies. TheCenter for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research, for instance, has already assembled a suite of such resources on its web platform.
Part 4. Increase access to mental health care
Concurrent with reducingcauses精神卫生负担,联邦政府hould work to expand doctoral and postdoctoral researchers’ access to adequate mental-health care. Current access may vary considerably depending on the level of insurance coverage offered by a researcher’s home institution. Inspired by legislation (S. 3048-Stopping the Mental Health Pandemic Act, where funds can be used to support and enhance mental health services) introduced in the 117thCongress, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) should partner with federal STEM-funding agencies to design and implement new pathways, programs, and opportunities to strengthen mental-health care among early-career STEM professionals. In particular, the federal government could create a library of model policies that federally funded public and private institutions could adopt to strengthen mental-health care for employed early-career researchers. Examples include allowing trainees to take time off during the workday to receive mental-health treatment without expectations to make up hours outside of business hours, providing a supplemental stipend for trainees to pay for therapy costs that are not covered by insurance, and addressing other sources of stress that can exacerbate stressful situations, such as increasing stipends to decrease financial stress.
Conclusion
The U.S. science and technology enterprise is only as strong as the workforce behind it. Failing to address the mental-health crisis that plagues early-career researchers will lead the United States to fall behind in global research and development due to talent attrition. President Biden’s 2022 State of the Union addresscited mental healthas a priority area of concern. There is an especially clear need for a culture change around mental health in academia. The four actions detailed in this memo align with the President’s policy agenda. By improving data collection on the mental-health status of STEM doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, discouraging behaviors and cultures that produce stress among this population, improving training and mentorship at universities, and expanding access to mental-health care among STEM doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, the federal government can ensure that success for early-career STEM professionals does not demand mental-health sacrifice.
STEM fields are closely tied to the U.S. economy,支持三分之二的美国工作和69％的美国国内生产总值（GDP）。Attrition of U.S. researchers from STEM fields due to mental-health challenges has disproportionately adverse effects on American society and undermines U.S. competitiveness. Policymakers should prioritize actions designed to combat the mental-health crisis in STEM.
NSF already requires that universities who receive federal research funding conduct internal investigations to validate claims of harassment and sexual harassment. Similar policies could be implemented regarding reported bullying and/or workplace harassment. If an allegation is found to be false, it should be handled by university-specific policies.
要求PI参加指导和治疗课程研讨会的目的是帮助他们改善自己，并提高他们指导下一代STEM专业人员的能力。重新进入指导学员将受到领导学院的密切监视，他们应该对导师和受训者进行调查，以确定PI是否理解（a）以前的不当行为以及（b）以前的行动对他们的持久心理健康影响学员。
NIH and NSF are arguably the two leading federal agencies when it comes to providingfederal funding for graduate students。That said, recommendations presented in this memo could easily be extended to other STEM-funding agencies. For instance, there is a timely opportunity to extend these recommendations to the Department of Energy (DOE).DOE is currently working to manage the President’s major FY23 investment在清洁能源和可持续性中，包括大量的研究赠款资金。将这些新赠款与旨在减轻早期研究人员的心理健康负担的政策相结合，可以帮助培养更具弹性和富有成效的清洁能源劳动力，并成为NIH和NSF的试点小组。
The administrative responsibilities for reporting are minimal. NSF’sOrganizational Notification of Harassment Formcan — at a minimum — be used as a template for NSF, NIH, and other agencies to notify the federal government of guilty verdicts from universities. Alternatively, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers can submit incidents for reporting by federal agencies similar to NSF’s existingcomplaint form, which would reduce the initial administrative burden of university employees but may create additional hours of work once federal agencies conduct their investigations.
While the strategies above teach researchers how to cope with stress, a long-term, more supportive approach would be to reduce stress by going straight to the source. Actions such as addressing harassment and bullying will benefit not only the researcher themselves, but others in the work environment by fostering a responsible, low-stress culture.
7. How are mentoring philosophies different from mentoring plans?
The submission of mentoring plans by PIs are currently required for NIH pre- and post-doctoral fellowship applications. They are meant to supplement the training of a researcher by focusing on the logistics of skill building. However, mentorship of a researcher transcends knowledge and skill-building — it also encompasses the holistic development of a researcher, supporting and respecting their interests, values, and considerations of their individual situations. Thus, submission of a mentoring philosophy is meant to stimulate thoughts and conversations about how a PI wants to communicate openly and honestly with their trainee and how they can adapt to support the mentoring style that best fits their trainee.
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