Self-compassion as a mechanism to facilitate the adjustment of first-year students to University environments
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Date
2023
Authors
Naidoo, Pravani
Oosthuizen, Maroné
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Abstract
Despite high enrolment rates at higher education institutions, a perturbing number of first-year university students discontinue their studies. As first-year students constitute a vulnerable group, it is important to investigate ways in which to facilitate their adjustment to university. Extant research within student populations, including first-year students, deems self-compassion to be a robust protective factor in adjustment to university. However, studies rely largely on quantitative research designs, overlooking the voices and everyday experiences of first-year students. Accordingly, this study aimed to qualitatively explore experiences and practices of self-compassion amongst first-year students when faced with the challenges of adjusting to university. To capture in-depth, rich, thick contextual data, 12 South African first-year students participated in semi-structured interviews in their first semester, while follow-up interviews were conducted with 9 participants in the second semester. Themes generated through reflexive thematic analysis highlighted the yin and yang of self-compassion as a valuable conceptual tool to understand and promote first-year students’ experiences and practices of self-compassion. Further, students’ experiences of self-compassion are more nuanced and contradictory than previous research has indicated. Lastly, receiving social support and being self-compassionate constitute reciprocal processes that students engage with in distinct ways, affecting both the depth and breadth of their experiences. Based on this research, self-compassion is vital for strengths-based mental health programmes amongst first-year students. Programmes should promote the practice of the yin and the yang of self-compassion, foster an accepting approach to experiences, and recognise the nuanced, potentially contradictory nature of self-compassion.
Description
Keywords
First-year students, freshmen, University students, self-compassion, adjusting to University, positive psychology
Citation
Naidoo, P., & Oosthuizen, M. (2023). Self-compassion as a mechanism to facilitate the adjustment of first-year students to University environments. International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41042-023-00129-y