Improving student well-being: theoretical extensions and practical application of the study-demands-resources framework
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Abstract
The growing research interest in exhaustion and engagement among students (e.g., Gusy, Wörfel, & Lohman, 2016) can be addressed using the recently introduced study demands-resources (SD-R) framework (Lesener, Pleiss, et al., 2020), which was derived from the established job demands-resources (JD-R) model in the work context (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Demerouti et al., 2001). The overarching aim of this dissertation is to theoretically and methodologically expand the SD-R framework while simultaneously evaluating its practical applicability in interventions.
Compared to the JD-R model, the SD-R framework remains relatively underexplored, and certain variables of the JD-R model have not yet been investigated in this framework. Therefore, the first research goal of this dissertation is to expand the SD-R framework by integrating three variables of the JD-R model—personal resources (see Xanthopoulou et al., 2007), study crafting (see Tims & Bakker, 2010), and self-undermining (see Bakker & Wang, 2020)—and to examine their role within the SD-R framework.
Based on the research trend of within-person designs, studies confirm that the JD-R model is also valid at the intraindividual level, with variables fluctuating on a daily or weekly basis (Bakker, 2015). Thus, the second research goal of this dissertation is to test the extended SD-R framework at the weekly within-person level by examining the effects of short-term fluctuations in study characteristics on student well-being, study crafting, and self-undermining.
Increasing levels of student exhaustion and decreasing engagement among students (e.g., Grützmacher et al., 2018; Olson et al., 2023; Techniker Krankenkasse, 2023) underscore the need for evidence-based and low-threshold support programs (e.g., Mülder et al., 2022). Based on the practical application of the JD-R model in interventions (see Bakker, Demerouti, & Sanz-Vergel, 2023), the third research goal of this dissertation is to develop a series of SD-R-based interventions and evaluate their effects on the variables of the SD-R framework both in the short and long term.
Related to this is the fourth research goal, which aims to examine the underlying mechanisms that mediate the effects of the SD-R-based interventions over time, with demands and resources, as well as study crafting as potential mediators. This also contributes to the longitudinal validation of the processes within the SD-R framework (Lesener, Pleiss, et al., 2020).
To achieve these four research goals, three empirical studies were conducted. Study 1 introduced the variables of study crafting and self-undermining into the SD-R framework and examined the extended motivational path and the extended health-impairment path at a weekly within-person level. A total of 205 higher education students provided weekly diary data over a period of four weeks. Results of multilevel structural equation modeling, controlling for autoregressors, demonstrated the validity of the two extended paths at the intraindividual level. Consistent with the hypotheses, a positive relationship was found between study resources and study crafting, mediated by engagement, and between study demands and self-undermining, mediated by exhaustion, at the weekly within-person level.
Study 2 evaluated the effects of a study crafting intervention on study crafting, engagement, and exhaustion. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with an intervention group (n = 149) and a waiting-list control group (n = 60). Three measurements (pre, post, and 20-week follow-up) were used to examine the sustained effects of the intervention. Further, mediation effects through study crafting were examined. Results of repeated measures analyses of variance indicated that the intervention increased study crafting, the study crafting strategy of decreasing hindering demands, and engagement both post-intervention and at follow-up. Furthermore, a time effect on exhaustion was observed in the intervention group, which was significantly reduced at follow-up. Study crafting mediated the relationship between the intervention and engagement as well as exhaustion. Study 3 evaluated the effects of two additional SD-R-based interventions on the variables of the framework, one aimed at adjusting demands and the other aimed at enhancing resources. Another randomized controlled trial was conducted with two intervention groups (nIG1 = 64, nIG2 = 70) and a waiting-list control group (n = 71), together with three measurements (pre, post, and 5-week follow-up). Mediation effects of demands and resources were also examined. Results of repeated measures analyses of variance showed intervention effects on the personal resource of mindfulness, on exhaustion, on the study crafting strategies of increasing structural resources, increasing challenging demands, and decreasing hindering demands, and on self-undermining. Mindfulness mediated the relationship between the intervention and the variables of increasing structural resources, increasing challenging demands, engagement, and self-undermining.
The combined results of the three studies demonstrate that the JD-R model is well transferable to the higher education context. The studies confirm the expandability of the SD-R framework to include personal resources, study crafting, and self-undermining, as well as its validity at the within-person level and longitudinally. They further confirm the practical applicability of the framework in interventions to improve study and personal characteristics, well-being, study crafting, and self-undermining, highlighting the central role of study crafting and mindfulness as mediators of intervention effects. This dissertation thus provides a solid theoretical foundation for a comprehensive examination of exhaustion and engagement among students, including their antecedents and consequences, as well as initial evidence for the effectiveness of SD-R-based interventions that should be used and further developed in future research.