Promoting positive mental health in occupational therapy graduate students

High incidence of graduate student mental health struggles is a well-documented crisis. Graduate students are six times more likely to experience depression and anxiety than members of the general population overall, with one study reporting 41% of graduate students experiencing anxiety and 39% experiencing depression (Evans et al., 2018). Many graduate students enjoy the intellectual challenge of their programs. However, several negative factors contribute to their mental health struggles—the largest of which is poor work-life balance. Poor work-life balance leads to occupational imbalance or being over engaged in a single occupation (school) and under engaged in other desired occupations. Occupational imbalance is linked to both stress-related disorders and poor health outcomes (Håkansson & Ahlborg, 2018). Interestingly, positive mental health is correlated with a deeper understanding of course material and higher academic performance for both occupational and physical therapy graduate students (DaLomba et al., 2021).