The Experiences of Stress and Coping among Self-directed Business Doctoral Students in an Irish University

Every level of education is crucial to ensure societies’ development and growth. The unique feature of doctoral education is that doctoral candidates engage in creation of new knowledge which is important for further discovery, development or nourishment of future activities in all areas. Therefore, to continue producing and developing world-class research, institutions must ensure to provide appropriate, healthy and encouraging learning environments which will allow postgraduate researchers to reach their full potential.

The aim of this study is to provide a better understanding and awareness of the impact of challenges and PhD-related stressors on doctoral candidates’ lives and their educational experience. This research is set to understand challenges and pressures impacting self-directed business doctoral students conducting their study on a full time basis. An important part of this project was to establish what coping strategies the study participants use in order to manage the pressures of the programme and enhance their well-being to ensure successful completion of their studies.

Qualitative methods formed the basis for this research study, with semi structured interviews as the chosen instrument for data collection. This method allowed for in-depth, complex data review that is not easily obtained via other data collection methods. Eight full-time business doctoral students represented the study sample and were recruited on a volunteer basis. Although the findings represent data from this specific sample, it cannot represent the entire PhD students’ population as the study was only restricted to students from one school in a higher education institution.

This research provides interesting insights and a deeper understanding of the challenges experienced by postgraduate researchers and their impact on the students’ health and wellbeing, which is relevant to all stakeholders interested in students’ welfare and educational outcomes in higher education settings. This study is building on the existing literature and enhances the existing research (especially as a qualitative piece of research, of which there aren’t many on this particular topic) in the area of mental health of doctoral candidates and how the related issues impact on the students’ educational experience. This area, according to literature is currently under researched.