This article was downloaded by: [University of Auckland Library]On: 19 October 2014, At: 17:27Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sportand Physical EducationPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rasp20

Managing health and well-being:student experiences in transitioning tohigher educationAlison Wrencha, Robyne Garretta & Sharron Kingb

a School of Education, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA,Australiab School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia,Adelaide, SA, AustraliaPublished online: 25 Jun 2014.

To cite this article: Alison Wrench, Robyne Garrett & Sharron King (2014) Managing health andwell-being: student experiences in transitioning to higher education, Asia-Pacific Journal of Health,Sport and Physical Education, 5:2, 151-166, DOI: 10.1080/18377122.2014.906059

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Managing health and well-being: student experiences in transitioningto higher education

Alison Wrencha*, Robyne Garretta and Sharron Kingb

aSchool of Education, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia; bSchool of HealthSciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

It is commonly recognised that health and well-being are influenced by socialconditions, such as the transition to higher education. This study explored studentperceptions and experiences of factors that impacted on health and well-beingduring the first year of university studies. Data for this study were collected via anonline student questionnaire. The questionnaire included closed questions tocollect demographic data and open-ended questions to collect data aboutstudents’ perceptions and experiences of factors that impact on health and well-being. Findings revealed that a range of factors impact on student well-beingduring the transition to university studies. These include geographical relocation,engagement with university learning, sense of community as well as managingtime and competing demands. Implications for the higher education sector andthe need for further research amongst specific student cohorts, including first infamily and relocating students, are discussed.

Keywords: health/well-being; first-year university students; transition

Introduction

In current times, the Australian Government seeks to expand participation in highereducation. The logic of neoliberalism informs this policy agenda for buildingnational and economic capacity (Gale & Tranter, 2011). This logic also naturalisesidividual entrepreneurship and commitment to the project of building one’s life(Foucault, 2008; Giroux, 2008; McNay, 2009). Consequences include an intensifica-tion of individual responsibilty for health and education (Kelly, 2006; Rose, 1999). Afurther direct consequence is the increased number of young people experiencing thetransition to university studies. Undertaking university studies is a significantpersonal investment. If lives of students are to be transformed by this investment,then how they experience and understand the transition to university, including theimpact on health and well-being warrants consideration.

A range of technologies for measuring and tracking post-school trajectories anddestinations of young people have generated a significant amount of data (see Kelly,2011; Lehmann, 2004; Woodman & Wyn, 2010). However, as Woodman and Wyncontend, despite this, little is known about how students’ health and well-being arepromoted in educational institutions or how they manage changing social conditionsassociated with these institutions:

*Corresponding author. Email: alison.wrench@unisa.edu.au

Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education, 2014Vol. 5, No. 2, 151–166, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18377122.2014.906059

© 2014 Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation

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By ignoring the wider and changing social conditions that affect young people’s lives,technologies of measurement and policies risk offering false certainties that oversimplifycomplex life conditions and are unlikely to have a beneficial impact on the lives ofyoung people they are intended to help. (Woodman & Wyn, 2010, p. 26)

Whitney (2010) along with Bitsika, Sharpley, and Holmes (2010) argue that thetransition to higher education can be challenging and impact on student well-being.We believe that through investigating factors that impact on health and well-being,potential exists to generate knowledge and understandings that can be used insupporting students with the transition to university studies.

The research this paper is based on investigated factors that influence health andwell-being for first-year university students. More specifically, personal observationsand considerations that impact on physical, social, emotional health and well-beingduring the transition to university studies were explored. Our findings suggest that arange of factors impact on well-being during the first year of university studies.Students’ understandings of these factors, together with complexities and tensionsthey identify as significant to managing health and well-being, are explored in thispaper.

Before we present our research data we will, in the first section of this paper,establish key conceptualisations and framings we are working with. We commenceby discussing our understandings of health and well-being before addressing thespecifics of the research undertaking. Following this, findings will be presentedthrough the themes of: Making sense of university; Belonging; and Managingcompeting demands. We conclude by suggesting possible courses of action, includingthe need for further research.

Health and well-being

Health is defined as being more than the absence of disease, disability and infirmity,and as such incorporates, ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being’(World Health Organisation [WHO], 2006). Such contemporary understandingsrecognise that health and well-being are integrated states of being, encompassingmultiple dimensions. It is also widely accepted that education is significant toattaining and maintaining high levels of health and well-being (Feinstein, Sabates,Anderson, Sorhaindo, & Hammond, 2006; Wyn, Cuervo, Smith, & Woodman,2010). Groot and van den Brink (2006) contend that this interrelationship is alsoseen as contributing to national well-being and productivity:

Education and health are the two most important characteristics of human capital.Their economic value lies in the effects they have on productivity: both education andhealth make individuals more productive. Education and health have a considerableimpact on individual well-being, as well. The wealth of nations is to a large extentdetermined by the educational attainment and the health status of its population.(Groot & van den Brink, 2006, p. 355)

It follows that educational institutions, including universities, are significant sites forbuilding individual and national health, well-being and productivity. This however isnot a neutral undertaking. When economic imperatives frame education policy,

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contradictions arise for broader social agendas, such as developing student well-being, which can be subsumed by narrow interpretations (Wyn, 2007).

‘Well-being has become an official discourse’ (Wyn, 2009a, p. 7, emphasis inoriginal) that is expressed as objective or scientific knowledge and expertise appliedto young people, including university students. Within the field of education, thisknowledge and expertise has tended to focus on student achievement, success andengagement (Soutter, 2011; Soutter, O’Steen, & Gilmore, 2012). Well-being studiesin disciplines such as sociology, psychology, and health sciences have drawnattention to factors such as quality of life, happiness, environment, socio-economicstatus (SES) and specific medical conditions amongst others (Soutter, 2011). A directconsequence has been an expansion of knowledge about factors that influence thewell-being of young people. However, from a sociological perspective, concerns existabout narrow frames of reference, which limit debate and investigation of youngpeople’s health and well-being to ‘risk’ factors and concomitant ‘protection’ fromthese factors (White & Wyn, 2008).

‘Risk’ discourses reflect a ‘particular style of thinking’ (italics in original, Rose1999, p. 246) that transfers the future into the present such that ‘risk’ becomescalculable. We live in times when the responsibility for ‘risk’ management andprevention has been transferred from the state to individuals, families andinstitutions (Rose, 1999). As a result, it is widely accepted that young people areresponsible for attaining and maintaining health and well-being as well as protectingthemselves from associated risks (White & Wyn, 2008). When ‘risk’ is individualisedin this way, social and cultural determinants of well-being that operate on youngpeople and impact health outcomes are rendered invisible (Eckersley, 2011).

‘Risk’ discourses construct well-being as a desired virtue and an ideal that shouldbe attained. Such constructions underpin the idea that well-being can be possessedand achieved on an individual basis (Wyn, 2009a). However, as an ideal, well-beingis neither absolute nor quantifiable. Well-being emerges through a complex interplayof social, economic and cultural factors and practices (Bennett, 2011; Eckersley,2011; White & Wyn, 2008). Wyn et al. (2010), for example, report that socialrelationships, connectedness to family and friends and being able to balance work,study and social aspects of life contribute to the health and well-being of youngpeople. In this paper, we are working from a relational approach to well-being andso recognise that an array of physical, emotional, social, cognitive, spiritual andenvironmental factors influence young people’s experiences of health and well-being.More specifically we seek to foreground interrelated factors that influence, and shapewell-being of students transitioning to university studies, rather than focus on ‘risk’factors.

This research

In adopting a relational approach to well-being and, hence, acceptance of multipleinfluencing factors, we felt it was important to give voice to first-year universitystudents as to how the transition to higher education impacted on their well-being.In doing so, we believed it was necessary to take account of the range of factors thatstudents face in negotiating their lives during their first year of university.Consequentially, this research aimed to investigate understandings of and factors

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that influence health and well-being for first-year university students from theperspective of the students themselves. Specifically, our research questions included:

(1) What are the perceptions of health, healthy bodies and well-being foruniversity students in their first year?

(2) What are the factors that influence and impact on health and well-being asstudents transition into university studies?

Methods

Data were collected via an online questionnaire after one semester or 13 weeks ofstudy from first-year students studying in the School of Health Sciences at a large,multi-campus, metropolitan Australian university. Students had access to this surveyfor a five-week period. Participation was voluntary and 132 participants completedthe survey representing approximately 23% of first-year students in the school. Themajority of students (89%) were in their late teens and early twenties. Indicative ofstudent diversity, 32% of participants had relocated to attend university, 33% werethe first in their family to attend university and 11% identified that English was theirsecond language. Together with the fact that 21% of the participants were male and79% were female, the survey population was a relatively good representative sampleof enrolments in the physiotherapy, podiatry, medical radiation and humanmovement degree programmes that constitute this School of Health Sciences.

The University Human Research Ethics Committee approved this project. In linewith the NHMRC Guidelines (National Health and Medical Research Council[NHMRC], 2001), principles protecting participants (informed consent, self-deter-mination, confidentiality of information and anonymity, protection from harm) andgoverning the storage, access and disposal of files were adhered to throughout thisstudy.

The anonymous questionnaire included closed questions to collect demographicdata and open-ended questions that required participants to identify their under-standings of health and wellness, and factors that impacted on them during thetransition into university studies. Postcode was used as a measure of SES and urban,rural or remote familial location. Questions ranged from feelings prior to commen-cing university to factors, including diet, physical activity, sleep, loneliness/aliena-tion, work, relaxation and body image, that impact on or influence their ongoinghealth and well-being whilst at university. Participants responded to all of thequestions, and extended or open-text responses varied in length from one line tothree or four sentences.

Analysis

Collated data were initially read independently and multiple times by the threeresearchers. Reading through an interpretative lens, the researchers attempted toidentify key patterns, commonalities and points of disjunction (Patton, 2002), aboutperceptions and experiences of health and well-being. Following their independentreading, the researchers shared their coding of the data and discussed understandingsand interpretations. Inherent in this analysis was the identification of commonlyagreed upon organisational themes, which facilitated further sense-making and

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management of the data (Ramazanoglu & Holland, 2002). These organisationalthemes included relocation, connections to university, physical activity, diet andstress.

A second reading focused on the discourses which participants were drawing on.According to Foucault, discourses refer to ‘the general domain of all statements,sometimes as an individualizable group of statements, and sometimes as a regulatedpractice that accounts for a certain number of statements’ (Foucault, 1972, p. 80).As systems of statements, discourses shape understandings about ways of being andacting (Henriques, Hollway, Urwin, Venn, & Walkerdien, 1984). Choice of wordsand how these were commonly used in language (Wright, 2004) focused attention onthe discourses that informed participants’ beliefs, practices and means used tomanage health and well-being. It was at this stage of analysis that the researchersnoted that gender was not a significant factor in participants’ responses and as aconsequence is not featured in the presentation of data in this paper.

The researchers repeated the process of coding and sharing to arrive at the agreedthemes of: Making sense of university, Belonging; and Managing competingdemands. In exploring experiences, practices and explanations, attempt has beenmade to connect existing literature and the data. In this way, contextualisedunderstandings rather than empirical generalisations have been made (Basit, 2010;Chase, 2005). In the next section, we present these themes and provide evidence ofour findings with quotes from the data.

Making sense of university

The shift to university involved a certain level of complexity that participants hadnot necessarily expected. In response to questions about what they thought universitylife would be like, participants responded with comments that highlighted thedifferences between school and university. They, for instance, identified concernsrelating to organisation and lack of structure in their university activities. Assuggested in the following comments, some participants did not feel that theirexpectations were met:

I thought it would be more organised. We seem to be spending a lot of time playing‘guess where the goal posts are’ and then kick a goal.

I would have hoped that expectations would have been more clearly defined.

Further evidence of this mismatch between discursive resources, expectations andexperiences is suggested in the following statements expressing confusion, frustrationand stress in the new environment:

I didn’t think it would be so stressful and time consuming.

A lot of work, difficult to keep up. I was worried it would be a bit above me.

Never thought it would be as intense as it is. The workload is unrealistic at times andalso courses aren’t always relevant to what we are studying.

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Answers to questions, regarding positive university experiences, included commentsabout meeting new friends, enjoyable social activities, receiving good marks andpositive feelings about doing well academically. Responses, as in the following,indicate that recognition, attention and personal interest from tutors and lectureshad a significant impact:

When tutors and lecturers respond to concerns. It makes you feel like you are valuedand cared for as a student.

Having a lecturer find me in a lecture hall and tell me I did well on an assignment.

These responses also suggest that a feeling of disconnection between participants andacademics existed, such that when they were noticed or recognised this was anunexpected, positive occurrence.

In response to questions about university experiences that impacted in negativeways, participants’ comments related to the nature and/or lack of academicfeedback. In the words of one participant:

Not getting feedback on assignments. It is really difficult to improve if we do not receivefeedback. It is also difficult if we didn’t know what we did right or wrong so next timewe have a similar assignment we can’t use that feedback.

Insufficient feedback on assignments limited participants’ understandings of howuniversity expectations might be met in the future and led to frustration and anxiety.Inconsistencies between course expectations led to further stress, with studentsdepending on each other for information rather than seeking help from lecturers.The following comments exemplify the confusion described:

Stress of due dates being clumped together and Receiving marks from fail to HD andnot understanding how I got either.

Not being successful makes me feel low and ready to quit and not having the assuranceof any ‘teacher like’ figure. Everyone expecting something different.

From our data, it appeared that there was a mismatch between, the cultural anddiscursive resources that participants brought to their tertiary studies, and thoseoperating in the university. As a result, participants were operating with some levelof confusion and stress. In response, they drew on ‘hot’ knowledge (word-of-mouthinformation acquired from other students; Ball & Vincent, 1998; Smith, 2011) ratherthan approaching lecturers and tutors for information or help. Given this, it isunsurprising that early experiences of university contributed to feelings of anxiety.

Belonging

Being able to recognise our place in the world and having connections to local andglobal communities are essential for engagement and well-being (Wyn, 2009a).Social dimensions and feeling connected to others are significant to young people, somuch so that they openly articulate the importance of family, friends and communitymembership to their health and well-being (Wyn et al., 2010).

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It was apparent from participants’ responses that friends and friendships werealso deemed to underpin a sense of belonging in the broad university community.Participants, who identified that they had a positive sense of belonging during thefirst year of their university studies, also identified the significance of friendlyacademic staff and common courses with a consistent group of students. Identifica-tion with other students and a professional endpoint led to the formation of a clearstudent identity, and contributed to a sense of belonging in the universitycommunity. Participants also recognised the significance of organised social events,camps and shared interests, especially sport. As evident in the following comments,these events provided a much needed opportunity to establish a sense of belongingthat, critically, is shared with others:

It allowed first year students to make friends which I believe is critical especially forthose students who don’t know anyone.

First semester pub crawl. As much as it was a great night out. It was a fantastic way tomeet the people in my course and strengthen existing friendships. It was an opportunityto meet more people in an informal setting.

A number of participants also commented on a specific Group Dynamics course,which provided opportunities to interact and work with others in a range ofsituations:

Group Dynamics course was great. Very interesting and valuable information aboutgroup function and how one can change their behavior to effect group work and othersocial aspects of life. I got to know a lot more people in my year, some of whom I hadnever met before. I am now more confident when talking to people in my coursebecause I know them better. The camp allowed us to bond on a more personal levelthan what we do just in lectures and tutorials.

However for others, large courses, limited meaningful interactions with peers andwhat they felt was inadequate access to academics contributed to feelings of isolation.Such feelings worked against a sense of belonging to the university community. Oneparticipant expressed:

As a mature aged student my experience has been one of overwhelming isolation andexclusion.

Those who did not feel a sense of belonging to the university community indicatedissues around travel to multiple campuses, having limited time to interact and a senseof disconnect with previous lifestyles and communities as experienced, for instance,by growing up in the country. White and Wyn (2008) suggest that the strong socialnetworks and traditional values associated with rural communities can provideyoung people with a sense of security. The following comment indicates that similarfeelings were not necessarily established when young people relocate to the city foruniversity studies:

I dislike the city and really struggle living away from my family and my horses. Thesense of community in the city is very different.

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It was also apparent that participants varied in their experiences and expectationsthat university would provide a sense of community. Some sought out socialactivities in a bid to make connections with other students, whilst others, as evidentin the following quote, tended to come into university for classes only and then leaveto meet other working and social commitments:

I am only here to study I don’t want to socialize.

It is significant that for some students the experience of university was one ofalienation and isolation. Concerns arise because feelings of disconnectedness withuniversity could compromise health and well-being and even academic success(Kift, Nelson, & Clarke, 2010).

Managing competing demands

Further questions in the survey asked participants to identify how they balancedvarious competing demands, including those associated with university studies,family, work and recreation. Participants were also asked to reflect on how theymanaged their health and well-being through physical activity, diet and sleep. Theysuggested that it was not easy to manage the various competing demands ofuniversity as well as maintain health and well-being. In accordance with discoursesinfused by the logic of neoliberalism, there was general acceptance that it wasparticipants’ personal responsibility to manage and meet the demands universityplaced upon them. For instance, in the following quotes, two participants identifiedthe significance of planning and prioritising to accomplish this:

Plan, plan, plan and plan. I plan a week ahead then see what I haven’t done and try tofinish that on weekends. If there is a social event on the weekend I try to finish byFriday.

I prioritize (probably not well), friends, basketball come first. Then family/study. I justdo what HAS to be done at the time and don’t look too far into the future.

While planning and prioritising were strategies identified for managing choices andneeds this, as suggested in the following comment, was not easy or straightforward:

I try to find time for everything but often find that when I’m studying I feel guilty aboutneglecting my family and friends. When I spend time with my family and friends I feelguilty about neglecting my studies.

Responses to questions about the management of health and well-being gave strongindications that participants also accepted personal responsibility for managing thewide range of factors that impact on their health and well-being. This acceptanceprovides evidence that participants also drew on discourses of ‘healthism’, and hencean individualised moral responsibility for avoiding and managing ‘risks’ to theirhealth (Crawford, 1980). This was evident in responses to the question that askedabout major influences over health and well-being:

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I like to be healthy and know that I’m looking after my health. So it’s just my thoughtsand no one else influences me.

I’ve developed a healthy lifestyle over the years and like to keep fit. I don’t let othersaffect my perspective of body image and lifestyle.

Wanting to be healthy myself as well as others such as family and friends perceptionof me.

In accord with the discourse of ‘healthism’, these comments suggest that theseparticipants believed they needed to be in control in order to achieve health and well-being.

Responses to questions about the impact of university studies on physical activityindicate that similar numbers of participants had experienced increased anddecreased levels of physical activity. Increases in activity were attributed to a rangeof factors, including the resumption of activity after year 12, more available time, asa means to counter stresses, in response to university-based learning and due todifferent modes of travelling to university:

I am walking a lot more now. I get off the bus a few stops earlier just to have some timeto myself, before dealing with day to day things.

Has increased, being part of this course means being in constant contact with sportypeople which rubs off on you.

Compared to year 12, when I stopped activity, I am back where I was before.

In drawing on discourses of ‘healthism’, decreased physical activity levels inducedmoral panic, and, so feelings of guilt and alarm. Reasons provided for reducedactivity levels included: lack of opportunity and absence of support networks fromschool and/or the country, feeling exhausted due to study or work and lack of timeand transport:

Frequency has reduced and performance lowered, because of a lack of time and lessopportunities.

My physical activity has decreased significantly due to time constraints and feelingexhausted. I also can’t afford to play for a club.

These quotes provide evidence of some of the complexities experienced in managingcompeting demands as well as health and well-being.

The transition to university studies also impacted on the diet of participants.Findings suggest that participants commonly increased their consumption of take-away and/or fast food and correspondingly decreased their vegetable and fruitconsumption. A range of factors contributed to changing dietary habits. Theseincluded shifting out of home, cheap and fast choices eaten ‘on the run’ betweenuniversity, work and socialising, ready availability of cafeteria food and using foodas a stress response. As the following participants indicated:

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My diet has changed, I eat more take-away, I eat less fruit and vegetables and eat lessregularly.

I now have to cook my own meals and I never had to until I shifted to Adelaide, soI now eat fewer meals and have less variety.

My diet has changed, I have more takeaways and less home-cooked meals. As Mumor Dad aren’t making my lunch in the mornings. I have ‘easier-to- cook’ meals ashealthy dinners take longer to prepare and I skip breakfast because I am alwaysrunning late.

In summary, for participants in this research, especially amongst relocatingstudents, the transition to university had a negative impact on eating habitsand diet.

Sleep is another central component of health and well-being (Eckersley, 2011).Eckersley identifies lack of sleep and/or sleep disturbances as behavioural factorsthat impact significantly on the health and well-being of all people. Responses toquestions about sleep and sleep patterns indicated a reduction in both quantity andquality of sleep during the transition to university. Reasons for this included: anincrease in social activities, work commitments and meeting study deadlines. Thefollowing responses provide evidence of some of these issues:

Hard to be consistent with late work followed by 8.00am lectures.

I get less sleep, staying up doing homework and then can’t nap during the day whenI feel flat.

Sleep clock is all over the place, I get tired easily, need arvo naps and I struggle to get upearly for 3 days of 8.00am lectures. My body clock does not seem to have a regularpattern.

The following responses support previous research (see Ari & Shulman, 2012) andindicate that decreased levels of sleep for participants in this study was associatedwith increased levels of stress:

I don’t sleep well during stressful times like exam time or when I know that I have a lotof work to do.

Less sleep, I had to take sleeping tablets during SWOT VAC.

Less sleep is stressful.

To reiterate, decreased sleep was one of a range of interrelated factors thatcontributed to increased levels of stress. As established earlier, participants drewon discourses of ‘healthism’ and an individualised responsibility for all aspects oftheir health and well-being. It is, therefore, not surprising that managing stress was amajor preoccupation for participants as they transitioned to university studies.Friends were seen to be significant in assisting participants to manage during thesemester. As found by Wyn (2006), personal friendships provide the necessarysupport, role modelling and resources for building and maintaining health and

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well-being. Participants drew on friends and friendship groups strategically tomanage stress as evident in the following comments:

I’ve formed study groups with friends.

The friends that I have made have definitely helped me survive the stressful times duringthe first semester.

Communicating with friends form Uni because they are going through the same stressesand they always help me when I’ m stressed.

Participants also described specific practices such as planning, being organised,working hard, staying committed, pushing through and thinking positivethoughts. Others turned to comfort eating, crying, yoga, exercising and relaxation.These responses, together with the following example, provide further evidence ofthe way that participants drew on discourses infused by the logic of neoliberalismand, hence, accepted personal responsibility for managing and copingappropriately:

Don’t stress out, Just do the work!’ I don’t get stressed! Stress is a state of mind thatI choose not to be in.

Whilst participants described specific strategies for managing stress, tensions arose interms of their mental health. Mental health is defined by the WHO (2011) as a ‘stateof well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can copewith the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able tomake a contribution to her or his community’. Responses from participants in thisstudy indicate that in transitioning to university they encountered social conditionsthat impacted on their mental health. The following comments indicate that thesesocial conditions gave rise to feelings of guilt, stress, anxiety and fear of failureamongst others:

I feel anxious handing up assignments.

I can feel very lonely and depressed at times and if everything is going bad at the sametime I break down and can’t seem to function properly. I’m in robot mode.

I feel as though I have not made as good friends as I thought that I would so do feelalone at times.

Furthermore, as evident in the following comments, participants also reportedfeeling lonely, isolated, alienated and depressed:

I have struggled with bouts of depression, from moving away from home and mypartner is away a lot with the defense force. I tend to eat to diminish the stress (not thatit works). I try to get the work done and manage myself.

It can feel quite isolated head down in book or on the computer. It’s also quitedepressing and stressful.

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A lot of alienation, loneliness and anxiety.

Stressed a lot. Often sad when I think about Uni.

Significantly, the support of family and friends was identified as important, andwhen such support was no longer available feelings of loneliness, isolation andalienation resulted. The previous and later responses indicate that an array ofinterrelated factors contribute to mental health and should be considered by thoseworking with young people (Wyn, 2009a, 2009b):

I have less support and do feel lonely because at school you had everyone every day.

I sometimes feel quite alienated from my friends who are not studying and so havemuch more freedom than me.

Because I don’t have so much contact with my close friends as I used to I feel lonelywhen I need someone to talk to.

Summary

In current times, when the logic of neoliberalism infuses all aspects of daily life(Foucault, 2008; Kelly, 2006), increased participation in higher education iscommonly accepted as a means to ensure national and individual well-being andprosperity. However, in exploring experiences and perceptions of a cohort of HealthSciences students, completing their first year of study at an Australian university, it isapparent that this is not neutral or unproblematic undertaking.

This paper presented data from a research study, which explored factors thatimpacted on students’ health and well-being during the early phase of their studies ata large metropolitan multi-campus Australian university. An interpretive lens wasused in our attempts to identify patterns and themes, to present insights and todevelop possible understandings (Patton, 2002) from the data. This research wasinformed by contemporary understandings of well-being and so recognised that anarray of interrelated physical, emotional, social, cognitive, spiritual and environ-mental factors influence young people’s experiences of health and well-being.

At a general level, the transition to university was complex for many of theparticipants with a range of factors found to impact on their well-being. Theseincluded: making sense of university courses, structures and arrangements, belongingto the broad university community, as well as managing competing demands. Ourdata suggest that there was a mismatch between participants’ cultural and discursiveresources and those of the university. Indicative of the power of discourses ofneoliberalism to naturalise individual responsibility, participants constructed them-selves as not fully prepared for the transition to university. In this respect, it wasapparent that some lacked contextual knowledge about their new learning environ-ment. As Scanlon, Rowling, and Weber (2007) similarly observed, participants founduniversity considerably different from their previous learning environments. In termsof a mismatch in personal and institutional discursive and cultural resources,participants did not have the ready access to teachers that they had experienced in

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schools and as a consequence were required to be more independent and takepersonal responsibility for learning.

A positive sense of belonging in the broad university community was developedthrough forming friendships, identifying with professional endpoints and participa-tion in specific organised social events. From the data, however, it was also foundthat, some did not develop a sense of belonging in the broad university community.It is possible that these participants did not strongly identify as a university studentor with a specific professional endpoint. The development of a sense of belonging issignificant for university communities, because as Raffo and Reeves (2000) contend,young people who establish friendship networks and have sense of belonging alsofeel they have more control over their lives.

At another level, feelings of loneliness and isolation were specifically expressedby participants who had relocated from country areas to attend university. However,a sense of not belonging was not confined to relocating students, others alsoexpressed feelings of alienation, insecurity and uncertainty and for various reasonsfelt disconnected with university. Of concern is that an enduring sense ofdisconnection and alienation could impact negatively on the well-being of thesestudents, which in turn has implications for their academic success and continuingparticipation at university (Kift et al., 2010).

In responding to questions about how they managed competing demands,participants described a range of practices and, in doing so, some specifically notedperceptions that there had been a decline in their overall health and well-being status.This decline was reported in terms of increased levels of stress and anxiety,loneliness, poor diet, sleep and reduced physical activity levels. Through the logicof neoliberalism, it is commonly understood that attending university bears apotential to provide career and personal benefits, yet this research suggests thatstudents can also be exposed to conditions that may hamper academic success,health and well-being.

In drawing on discourses of ‘healthism’ and entrepreneurship or individualisedresponsibility for building their lives, participants were aware that they had apersonal responsibility for making appropriate choices around study, health, well-being and their futures. They, for instance, know what it takes to be healthy (takingtime out and doing things for the self). It was also evident that they have developedresponses to pressure and social changes that are not necessarily healthy, and as suchengage in practices that can harm their health – not seeking help or not eating well.

While young people do not have control over many aspects of their lives, such isthe power of discourses of individualised responsibility, participants, in this research,accepted a personal responsibility for their outcomes – the failures and things that donot work as well as successes. At a personal level, participants could describetensions they faced in managing the complexity of their lives, yet did not considerbroader cultural, social and economic forces that frame the unpredictability ofcurrent times (Woodman & Wyn, 2010). It is important to acknowledge that thiscombination of personal responsibility and external cultural and economic forcescould lead to continued high levels of anxiety, depression and other mental healthproblems amongst these university students.

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Concluding statements

Given a ‘limited’ sample of university students attending one university, we do notclaim to make empirical generalisations about the transition to university studies andthe impacts on health and well-being. Instead, in exploring contextualised under-standings, we have sought to establish connections and possibilities (Chase, 2005) forothers working with first-year university students.

As found in previous research (see Bennett, 2011; Eckersley, 2011; White & Wyn,2008), health and well-being of young people are developed relationally and, hence,influenced by social conditions that foster positive relationships and support. Itfollows that health and well-being can be compromised through changing socialconditions, such as those brought about by relocation and sense of loss felt whenstudents no longer have easy access to support networks, including friends andfamily. This in turn has implications for universities in terms of academic progress,success and retention of young people transitioning into university studies.

Whilst it is beyond the scope of this paper to mandate specific courses of action,we believe that university communities ought to develop practices and structuredprogrammes that foster social networks, academic connections and supportive peerrelationships for their students. These new networks should not replace relationshipsthat sustained health and well-being prior to transitioning to university but supportstudents in developing a sense of belonging to their university community. Indeveloping these practices and/or solutions, the understandings, experiences andinput of students, especially those from increasingly diverse backgrounds warrantconsideration. With this in mind, we feel there is a need for further research into thespecific experiences of rural and relocating students and students from low socio-economic backgrounds who are often also the first in family to attend university.These students after all are the experts in their own experiences of transition, healthand well-being.

Notes on contributorsAlison Wrench, Ph.D., is a lecturer in Health and Physical Education in the School ofEducation at the University of South Australia. Her research interests include socially criticalpedagogies, identity work and gender issues related to health and physical education and sportand physical activity more generally. Recent research projects include interrelationshipsbetween teacher subjectivities and pedagogical practices, and the significance of embodimentand the affective domain to teacher and student subjectivities and inclusive pedagogicalpractices for disadvantaged students.

Robyne Garrett, Ph.D., is a lecturer in physical education, dance and methodology in theSchool of Education at the University of South Australia. Her research interests includegender, critical pedagogies, embodiment and dance. Current projects include new pedagogiesin health and physical education (HPE) for disadvantaged students, well-being of non-traditional university students and embodied pedagogies. Her teaching focuses on supportingstudent teachers to develop and implement critical and embodied pedagogies.

Sharron King, Ph.D., is a senior lecturer in the School of Health Sciences at the University ofSouth Australia, currently teaching large foundation courses in Human Physiology. Herresearch interests broadly focus on issues of health and well-being with particular emphasis onthe concept of thriving in the workplace and adult-learning environments. Her currentresearch includes collaborative projects on the affective domain of teaching, student’sexpectations and experiences of university study, and the factors impacting on learner’sphysical, social and emotional health during significant transitions.

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