New UW-Green Bay study will improve college experience for grieving students
GREEN BAY — A new study at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay aims to improve the college experience by better understanding the interaction between grieving students and faculty and staff members.
Human Development professors Illene Noppe and Ryan Martin are surveying UW-Green Bay colleagues to find out more about their interactions with students who are suffering from the loss of loved ones.
“This is the first-ever study that has asked what their experiences have been with grieving college students,” said Noppe, founder of the UW-Green Bay institute on Death, Dying and Bereavement. “What policies and procedures do they have? Do faculty believe students when a death is reported? Are there certain conditions that warrant extensions to assignments or exams?
“I think it’s critical to understand these interactions. Grieving students are at risk. Studies show they don’t do as well in school the first semester after a loss.”
A 2007 survey of more than 1,100 UW-Green Bay students showed that nearly 47 percent of students experienced the death of a loved one in the prior two years. Nearly 20 percent of surveyed students experienced multiple deaths.
Grieving students reported loss in concentration (43.7 percent), less studying (32.8 percent), decline in motivation for school (28.5 percent), decline in test performance (22.9 percent), slipping grades (17.3 percent) and a decline in attendance (13.8 percent).
Of those grieving students, more than half were not comfortable talking about the loss with their professors, and only about 19 percent told their professors about a loss.
“Students have a perception about how sympathetic their faculty are,” Noppe said. “If we don’t get the other side of the story, students won’t know if that’s an accurate perception.”
Early survey responses show faculty members are sympathetic and willing to help students through tough times, Noppe said. Many have themselves experienced loss and have an understanding of associated issues.
“Right now, from what I’m seeing early on, I would encourage students to talk to their professors and not to assume they’ll be unsympathetic,” Noppe said.
Noppe hopes the surveys will lead to a better understanding between faculty, staff and students to foster a better climate and more positive college experience for those who are grieving.
“This kind of climate shouldn’t be something that’s endemic to a small school environment; it should be something that’s endemic to a caring environment,” Noppe said.
One outcome of the student survey was the development of a campus chapter of the National Students of Ailing Mothers and Fathers Support Network, an organization that is dedicated to supporting college students coping with the illness or death of a loved one and the empowerment of all college students to fight back against terminal illness.
The faculty and staff surveys could lead to the development of training materials to help guide all educators through grief situations with students.
“We’re not looking specifically at setting policies. It’s not something you can legislate since each experience is different,” Noppe said. “We want to find out the best things to do if a grieving student comes to you. What is reasonable to expect? Where can faculty or staff refer them to get help? How can we identify signs of grief? We want to develop something that gives a better roadmap to handling students’ grief.”
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