Research for Inclusive STEM Education CenterSchool of Life SciencesArizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States.
Adv Physiol Educ. 2024 Dec 1;48(4):884-897. doi: 10.1152/advan.00074.2024.
Undergraduates with depression report that they would benefit from science role models who also have depression. If biology instructors who have depression reveal it to their students, it could help meet this need. However, it is unknown how instructors revealing their depression would impact all undergraduate science students, not just those with depression, and whether it would cause some students to have a negative perception of the instructor. To address this gap, an instructor of an undergraduate physiology course revealed her depression to the whole class in less than 3 s on two occasions. Undergraduates were surveyed about whether they remembered the instructor revealing depression, whether they perceived it to be appropriate, and what impact it had on them. Of the 289 undergraduates who participated in the survey, 90.6% remembered the instructor revealing her depression. Seventy-two percent of those students reported that the instructor revealing depression had a positive impact on them, 21.3% reported no impact, and 6.7% reported a negative impact. Women were disproportionately likely to report that the instructor revealing depression had a positive impact on the student/instructor relationship and the instructor's approachability. LGBTQ+ students were disproportionately likely to report that the instructor revealing depression had a positive impact on the extent the classroom feels inclusive and students with more severe depressive symptoms were more likely to report that it normalized depression broadly and in the context of science. This work adds to recent studies highlighting the potentially positive impact of instructors revealing their concealable stigmatized identities to undergraduates in class. This research highlights the potential for instructors with depression to have a positive impact on students in their college science courses.
患有抑郁症的本科生报告说,他们希望能从患有抑郁症的科学榜样身上受益。如果生物学教师向学生透露自己患有抑郁症,可能有助于满足这一需求。然而,目前尚不清楚教师透露自己的抑郁症会如何影响所有本科生,而不仅仅是那些患有抑郁症的学生,以及这是否会导致一些学生对教师产生负面看法。为了解决这一差距,一位本科生生理学课程的教师在两次课堂上,不到 3 秒的时间内向全班学生透露了自己的抑郁症。本科生接受了调查,内容是他们是否记得教师透露自己患有抑郁症,他们是否认为这是合适的,以及这对他们有什么影响。在参与调查的 289 名本科生中,90.6%的人记得教师透露自己患有抑郁症。72%的学生报告说,教师透露自己患有抑郁症对他们产生了积极影响,21.3%的学生报告说没有影响,6.7%的学生报告说有负面影响。女性更有可能报告说,教师透露自己患有抑郁症对师生关系和教师的亲和力产生了积极影响。LGBTQ+学生更有可能报告说,教师透露自己患有抑郁症对课堂的包容性产生了积极影响,而且抑郁症状更严重的学生更有可能报告说,它在更广泛的范围内和科学背景下使抑郁正常化。这项工作补充了最近的研究,这些研究强调了教师在课堂上向本科生透露他们隐藏的污名化身份可能产生的积极影响。这项研究强调了患有抑郁症的教师在大学生科学课程中可能对学生产生积极影响。