Crystal Machado and Ragia Hassan, a Curriculum and Instruction doctoral candidate from the Professional Studies in Education Department, presented a paper titled "Sick and Tired: Academic Stress Experienced by International Doctoral-Student Mothers During the Pandemic" at the PASSHE DEI Summit on November 3, 2022.
Abstract
Juggling doctoral coursework, teaching, and parenting during a pandemic is very challenging. These challenges are magnified when learners are international students who live and work in a different time zone, with limited connectivity and limited access to university-provided resources. As part of a larger qualitative study, we used Bridges’ Transition Model for Change (2009) and Goode’s Theory of Role Strain (1960) to qualitatively study International Doctoral Student Mothers (IDSMs’) stressors, coping strategies, and the resources they used during the COVID-19 pandemic. We presented a cross-section of the data related to the following research questions: (1) How did IDSM describe their academic experience during the pandemic? (2) How did IDSM cope with the academic stressors? (3) Which resources (personal, institutional, community) did IDSM find more helpful? Our findings have implications for faculty, administrators, and staff who work with doctoral students.