Self-compassion as a mechanism to facilitate the adjustment of first-year students to University environments
| dc.contributor.author | Naidoo, Pravani | |
| dc.contributor.author | Oosthuizen, Maroné | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-10-05T13:56:56Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-10-05T13:56:56Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2023 | |
| dc.description.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. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.sponsorship | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.description.version | Publisher's version | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.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 | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.issn | 2364-5040 (print) | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 2364-5059 (online) | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11660/12294 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://doi.org/10.1007/s41042-023-00129-y | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | Springer | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | Author(s) | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.license | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | First-year students | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | freshmen | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | University students | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | self-compassion | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | adjusting to University | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | positive psychology | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Self-compassion as a mechanism to facilitate the adjustment of first-year students to University environments | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Article | en_ZA |