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The domestic and foreign experience and Chinese path of the construction of the psychological support system for graduate students
Teresa Teng, Chen Lulu, Wang Shuyi
Abstract:To solve the mental health problems of graduate students, we should not only see the problem itself, but also see the appeal behind the problem. The construction of psychological support system for graduate students is an inevitable choice to improve the quality of graduate education. Combined with in-depth interviews, questionnaire surveys and comparative analysis, this paper provides a glimpse of the reality of the psychological support system for graduate students from the aspects of reality and practical experience at home and abroad. The study found that the psychological support system for graduate students should include three core elements: developmental support, preventive support and interventional support. At present, the satisfaction rate of graduate students in mainland China with developmental support and intervention support is good, but the satisfaction rate with preventive support is low. The main experience of psychological support for graduate students at home and abroad is to take the legal/policy documents as the guide, improve the psychological support organization for graduate students, complete and strengthen the talent team, and increase the investment in psychological support for graduate students. In this regard, the psychological support system for graduate students should shift from "emphasizing treatment over prevention" to "focusing on development and emphasizing prevention and treatment", and at the same time optimize the implementation process of psychological support and ensure that the division of labor among the participating subjects is clear.
Keywords: Graduate students; psychological support; Realistic appearance; Construction paths
First, the question is raised
In recent years, the psychological support needs of college students have attracted much attention. Since 2011, the Ministry of Education has made it clear that colleges and universities should "meet the psychological needs of students for self-growth". The relevant documents issued since then emphasize that mental health work should "better adapt to and meet the needs of students' mental health education services" and "combine the needs of students' development". With the expansion of graduate education and the increasingly prominent role of graduate students in scientific research and innovation activities, providing graduate students with the psychological support they need plays an important role in realizing an educational power and promoting scientific and technological innovation in the mainland.
Looking back at the previous research, the social support provided by universities to graduate students can be roughly divided into four types: financial support, academic support, emotional support and employment support. Psychological support is an important form of social support with emotion as the core, which helps individuals solve problems or dilemmas and promote their long-term development through cognitive counseling, emotional comfort, behavioral guidance and even substantive support. The problems faced by graduate students are diverse and complex, and a comprehensive support strategy is necessary to achieve long-term and significant support results. Therefore, psychological support for graduate students should be centered on psychological services, supplemented by academic support, financial aid and career guidance, so as to promote the development of graduate students in a comprehensive and diversified way.
In addition, in view of the current situation of psychological support for graduate students, the quality and appropriateness of support need to be improved urgently. Limited psychological support, lack of motivation to seek support, and lack of information on access to psychological support are the key factors for the low utilization and perception of psychological support among graduate students. Some scholars pointed out that support measures for the postgraduate population should be based on a clear needs assessment, an examination of the student experience, and the availability and integration of resources. Some scholars also suggested that the relevant departments should adopt an overall linkage approach to provide support for graduate students, rather than a decentralized and categorical support method, and advocated that psychological support should run through the whole process of graduate training.
Since 2000, the Postgraduate Psychological Support Program has been carried out in many countries and regions. Almost all colleges and universities have mental health service centers that provide face-to-face counseling, self-help resources, and mental health courses for graduate students. Universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have also adopted a "full-participation" strategy, recognizing graduate student psychological support as the responsibility of the entire campus community. Overall, the psychological support for graduate students is constantly advancing. Although the methods of support have been adjusted and improved, some scholars have pointed out that universities are still lacking in assessing the effectiveness of psychological support services, and the barriers that hinder graduate students from obtaining support still exist, and graduate students still face varying degrees of psychological difficulties.
Summarizing previous studies, most of the studies tend to explain what psychological support for graduate students should look like from the perspective of "what it should be", and pay less attention to the "real" state of psychological support for graduate students. That is, there is a lack of empirical evidence for what kind of psychological support graduate students need and what is the current situation of psychological support. In addition, although the psychological support for graduate students has gradually shifted from the correctional level to prevention and development, its developmental role has not yet been fully utilized. How to shift psychological support to "development-oriented, taking into account prevention and correction" needs to be further explored.
In this regard, this study intends to address the following questions: What should be included in psychological support for graduate students? What is the current situation and practice of psychological support for graduate students in mainland China? What can the practical experience of psychological support for graduate students at home and abroad draw on the establishment of a scientific, efficient and complete psychological support system in mainland China? Based on the theory of social cognitive career, the content of the psychological support system for graduate students will be constructed from three aspects: developmental, preventive and interventional, and the means of psychological support for graduate students will be enriched. According to the theory of developmental counseling, the focus of the psychological support system for graduate students will shift from the correction of psychological problems to the construction of a supportive environment oriented to the development of graduate students. Referring to the law of transfer and implicit transfer in the theory of educational ecology, the psychological support of graduate students will integrate explicit support and implicit support.
In summary, the study adopted a mixed research method, firstly, through interviews and questionnaires, the overall appearance of psychological support for graduate students in mainland China and the satisfaction rate of graduate students with the current psychological support were preliminarily outlined. Then, by comparing and drawing on the practical experience of domestic and foreign universities, a specific path to optimize the psychological support system for graduate students in mainland China is proposed.
2. Research design
(1) Research methods
The mixed method of convergent parallel design was used to obtain the elements of the psychological support system of graduate students through interviews, and the current situation of psychological support for graduate students was understood through questionnaire surveys. Combined with the analysis results of the two, the reality of psychological support for graduate students was comprehensively analyzed. Then, the practical experience of psychological support for graduate students at home and abroad is compared, and the similarities and differences are analyzed, so as to provide reference for the optimization of the psychological support system for graduate students.
(2) Data acquisition and analysis
1. Qualitative research. A total of 21 interviewees were selected from 5 universities for in-depth interviews, including graduate students, graduate supervisors, counselors and parents of graduate students, covering liberal arts, science and engineering. The content of the interview includes the content and extent of psychological support that graduate students have received. The audio recording is transcribed into a transcript after the interview. Using the grounded theory coding paradigm, open coding was carried out first, and the keywords were sorted into 61 core concepts. Then, through the spindle coding, the concepts were preliminarily classified, and 16 sub-categories of psychological support for graduate students were extracted. Finally, the sub-categories are further integrated into three main categories by selecting the coding. According to the principle of saturation test, 15 data were selected for coding analysis, and the rest were used for saturation test until no new concepts or new categories appeared in the coding analysis, so that the psychological support elements of graduate students were fully explored. In order to ensure the quality of the coding, the two coders encode independently, and the consistency of the three-level encoding is higher than 0.8, and the coding reliability is good.
In addition, this paper selects the United States, the United Kingdom and Finland, three countries with relatively mature psychological support systems for graduate students, and summarizes the similarities and differences in the institutional environment, organizational structure, staffing and funding investment of psychological support for graduate students in mainland China and these three countries through comparative analysis, and puts forward countermeasures and suggestions for the optimization of graduate student psychological support system in mainland China in combination with the shortcomings of the existing systems in mainland China.
2. Quantitative research. A total of 1100 questionnaires on graduate students' satisfaction with psychological support were distributed to graduate students from 15 universities using stratified random sampling, and 1034 valid questionnaires were recovered, with an effective recovery rate of 94%. Among them, 448 are boys and 586 are girls. Involving multiple majors such as science and engineering, literature and history, social sciences, art and medicine, the grade distribution ranged from the first year of master's students to the fifth year of doctoral students and above, and the average age of the sample was 23.94±2.43. The questionnaire was designed based on literature analysis and interview results, including basic demographic variables and graduate students' satisfaction with psychological support. The satisfaction evaluation included three dimensions: developmental support, preventive support and interventional support, and the specific content included 38 items, such as admission adaptation guidance, curriculum learning optimization and scientific research ability improvement. Using the Likert five-point rating system, the options range from "very dissatisfied" to "very satisfied". The Cronbach's α coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.921, and the correlation between the dimensions was moderate, indicating that the reliability and validity of the questionnaire were good.
3. Research results
(1) The reality of psychological support for graduate students
1. The results of the analysis of the psychological support elements of graduate students. According to the theory of developmental counseling, psychological support is no longer limited to solving psychological problems, but should also focus on the development of graduate students, and the content should include many aspects of graduate studies, employment and life. The social cognitive career theory suggests that the psychological support of graduate students should reflect the temporal dimension. Based on this, the psychological support for graduate students adopts multiple support methods, which run through all aspects of graduate training, aiming to improve the quality of graduate training, while taking into account the prevention and solution of psychological problems. Specifically, psychological support for graduate students includes stepwise support, preventive support, and interventional support, as detailed in Table 1.
(1) Developmental support: Provide daily support for the development of graduate students. The goal of developmental support is to create a supportive environment that provides daily psychosocial support for graduate student development. The main task of this support is to improve the ability of postgraduate students in learning, research and employment, and to lay a solid foundation for the excellent development of postgraduate students. It is manifested in six aspects: admission adaptation guidance, curriculum learning optimization, scientific research ability improvement, interpersonal communication promotion, positive character cultivation and career development guidance.
(2) Preventive support: Protect graduate students from psychological problems. Preventive support aims to prevent psychological problems of graduate students, identify various potential mental health risks and difficulties of graduate students, so as to effectively detect and respond to various contradictions and conflicts, and maintain a good level of individual mental health. According to the results of the interviews, preventive support includes academic problem support, mental health education, psychological status assessment, self-help platform construction and mental health services.
(3) Interventional support: help graduate students who have fallen into a psychological crisis or suffer from mental illness to return to normal. Interventional support is emergency rescue support designed specifically for individuals in psychological crisis. It mainly serves graduate students who are facing sudden or major academic or life events, or who are suffering from mental disorders. The intervention process follows the principle of "reducing risk and harm in a crisis, mitigating negative impacts and promoting recovery after a crisis". Specifically, it includes measures such as intervention in academic difficulties, interpersonal conflict resolution, assistance for life changes, psychological crisis intervention, and psychological rehabilitation support.
2. Survey results on the current state of psychological support for graduate students. The overall satisfaction rate of graduate students with psychological support was as high as 90.5%. Among them, graduate students had the highest satisfaction rate with developmental support (93.6%), followed by intervention support (85.9%), and the least satisfied with preventive support (19.6%). The top five satisfaction rates of psychological support in each dimension were interpersonal communication promotion (95.0%), school adaptation guidance (94.1%), positive character cultivation (92.4%), interpersonal conflict resolution (90.4%), and psychological crisis intervention (74.7%), followed by life change assistance (6.7%), self-help platform construction (4.8%), mental health education (4.1%), career development guidance (2.4%), and academic distress intervention (2.0%). (See Table 2)
The overall level of satisfaction varies among different categories of graduate students. (1) In terms of gender, the overall satisfaction rate of female students (91.0%) was slightly higher than that of male students (90.4%). (2) From the perspective of degree level, the overall satisfaction rate of master's students (90.9%) was slightly higher than that of doctoral students (90.1%). (3) From the perspective of grades, the satisfaction rate of master's students was in the third year of master's students (96.6%), the second year of master's students (92.6%), and the first year of master's students (88.7%), and the overall satisfaction rate of master's students increased with the increase of grades. From high to low, the satisfaction rate of doctoral students was 93.6% in the first year of doctoral students, 90.0% in the fourth year of doctoral students, 87.5% of doctoral students in the fifth year and above, 86.0% of doctoral students in the second year, and 85.7% of doctoral students, and the overall satisfaction rate of doctoral students showed a U-shaped trend. (4) In terms of disciplines, the overall satisfaction rate of art graduate students was the highest (93.3%), followed by science and engineering (91.2%), medicine (90.8%), literature and history (90.6%) and social science (88.9%).
Overall, graduate students were more satisfied with developmental and interventional support than with preventive support. It is suggested that colleges and universities should adhere to the core concept of postgraduate development, and strengthen preventive support in the training process. For the service items with low satisfaction rate of graduate students, the reasons should be found in time and the service should be improved. The service process needs to be "refined and detailed", and attention should be paid to the grades and subject categories with low satisfaction rates of psychological support.
(2) Practical experience in psychological support for graduate students at home and abroad
Combined with the in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys on the reality of psychological support for graduate students, it can be seen that the psychological support system for graduate students in mainland China has taken shape and has been effective, but with the continuous growth of the demand for psychological support for graduate students, the existing system still faces great challenges, especially the lack of preventive support, which limits the function of psychological support. Since the mid-to-late 80s of the 20th century, the quality of psychological support services in mainland universities has been significantly improved, but the psychological support for graduate students is still lacking in system construction, organization and management, faculty and financial investment. In contrast, the psychological support for graduate students in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Finland started earlier, and their systems are more mature. This paper compares and analyzes the similarities and differences between the psychological support practices of graduate students in mainland China and other countries, and provides useful ideas for the improvement of the psychological support system for graduate students in mainland China.
1. The operation of the psychological support system for graduate students in the United States. U.S. College Psychology Services originated more than 100 years ago and are protected by federal and state laws. The graduate psychological support system plays an indispensable role as an important part of the overall framework for the well-being of higher education in the United States.
In order to better meet the psychological needs of graduate students, the Board of Trustees of Graduate Schools of America and the Jade Foundation have cooperated to promote research on graduate psychological support and advocate for relevant groups to jointly support graduate students' psychological construction. Based on health programs and psychological services, the Counseling Center of American colleges and universities, in conjunction with other departments of the Department of Student Affairs, provides a range of services to graduate students, including academic support, financial aid, and career development. When faced with complex problems, the school will also recommend professional fee-based services or free services from non-profit organizations. In addition, telehealth in the U.S. ensures that graduate students have access to mental health support at all times. The federal government invests heavily in improving school-based mental health services and training for mental health professionals.
2. The operation of the psychological support system for postgraduate students in the UK. The UK's "Whole Campus Mental Health" policy emphasizes the shared well-being of teachers and students, and includes the affairs of colleges and universities in the scope of mental health care. Following statutory guidance from the UK Department for Education, universities often develop their own mental health promotion programmes, such as the University of Manchester's Staff and Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme.
The Student Services Centre provides a full range of support for UK postgraduate students, with psychological counselling as the core service, as well as study and career guidance, financial assistance, etc. The Counselling Centre also provides stress relief services, postgraduate counselling and peer support for teachers and school administrators. According to the tutor system, each graduate student is entitled to a life mentor and a professional mentor. Supervisors are expected to communicate with graduate students on a regular basis and work closely with other support departments to solve practical problems for graduate students. Some universities, such as the University of Edinburgh, the University of Manchester, and the University of Sheffield, have formed dedicated postgraduate psychological support teams. UK universities also link to external resources, such as local mental health services, local or national voluntary organisations and psychological websites, to effectively compensate for the lack of on-campus psychological support. The UK's publicly funded healthcare system ensures that postgraduate students receive a limited number of sessions of free counselling treatment.
3. The operation of the psychological support system for postgraduate students in Finland. From the end of the 20th century to the present, Finland has issued a series of laws that provide detailed provisions for students' mental health and well-being, which has greatly promoted the development and improvement of campus mental health services and management systems. As stipulated in the Student Welfare Act, student welfare services are required to provide preventive services to the entire school community; The Health Care Act provides legal guarantees for graduate students to receive the lowest-cost medical services.
Finland attaches great importance to the integration of mental health education in primary and secondary schools. Mental health education at different stages is logically unified, while also highlighting their own priorities. Services include psychological counselling, study guidance, crisis intervention, health and financial support, and more. Postgraduate students can access mental health services from local health centres and Finnish Student Health Services, for example. Seventy-seven per cent of the funding for postgraduate mental health care services is provided by the state, and the remaining 23 per cent is paid by postgraduate students.
4. The operation of the psychological support system for graduate students in mainland China. Since 2010, when the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China emphasized the strengthening of mental health education and counseling for graduate students, the psychological support system for graduate students in mainland China has been improving day by day, but it still fails to meet the psychological needs of graduate students, and faces problems such as uneven development and low service penetration rate between regions and universities.
Under the leadership of the Party Committee of the university, the psychological service of colleges and universities in mainland China is jointly implemented by the Student Affairs Department of the Party Committee and the Mental Health Education and Counseling Agency, integrating mental health education and ideological and political education to promote talent training. The Career Guidance Center, the Learning Development Guidance Center and the Student Financial Aid Management Center under the Student Affairs Department of the Party Committee can provide employment, academic and financial support for graduate students. The mainland attaches great importance to the psychological support of graduate supervisors for graduate students, and has issued relevant documents to regulate the supportive behavior of graduate supervisors. In order to improve the psychological counseling ability of graduate tutors, graduate counselors and other relevant staff, the Ministry of Education also regularly provides graduate students with mental health guidance and skills training. Regional university mental health alliances, such as Haidian District in Beijing, three provinces and one district in Northeast China, and Zhejiang Province, have effectively promoted the cooperation and improvement of psychological services in colleges and universities in the region. Colleges and universities enjoy a certain degree of autonomy in the use of special funds for mental health education.
5. Commonality and Difference Analysis. Graduate student psychological support systems vary from country to country. First of all, there is a difference in the way psychological support for graduate students is guaranteed. The United States and Finland have adopted more legislative safeguards to ensure the universality and long-term nature of mental health work in colleges and universities. In contrast, the mainland and the UK prefer policy measures that provide guarantees in a flexible and targeted manner. Secondly, there are differences in the paradigm of psychological support for graduate students in different countries. The United States focuses on evidence-based support, the United Kingdom is committed to building and regulating mental health communities in universities, and Finland is integrating graduate psychological services into the national welfare system. The mainland emphasizes the combination of ideological and political education and psychological education, and attaches importance to the role of tutors. Finally, the in-depth cooperation between the government and social forces is another innovative model of psychological support for graduate students in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Finland. Relatively speaking, the participation of social forces in mainland China in the psychological support services for graduate students is still in its infancy. (See Table 3)
Although there are differences in the practice of psychological support for graduate students in different countries, there are similarities in the protection of the right of graduate students' mental health, the organization of psychological services, the content of psychological services, the construction of psychological service teams, and the allocation of financial resources for psychological services. That is, psychological support is dedicated to helping graduate students achieve academic success and well-being.
Fourth, the optimization path of the construction of the psychological support system for graduate students in mainland China
Based on the comparative analysis of the actual situation of psychological support for graduate students in mainland China and the practical experience at home and abroad, this paper focuses on the content, path and main body of psychological support construction, and puts forward the optimization path of the construction of psychological support system for graduate students in mainland China. (See Figure 1)
(1) Evidence-based guidance: Psychological support for graduate students needs to shift from "emphasizing treatment and ignoring prevention" to "development first, emphasizing prevention and excellent treatment"
From the results of the interview, it can be seen that the psychological support of graduate students should include developmental support, preventive support and interventional support. The results of the survey suggest that universities are more focused on interventional support than preventive support. In order to better respond to the developmental needs of graduate students, the construction of the psychological support system for graduate students should be shifted from "emphasizing treatment over prevention" to "focusing on development and emphasizing prevention and treatment".
First of all, it is necessary to strengthen the concept of "development is the best prevention" and establish a gradient support mechanism. The psychological demands of graduate students are qualitatively different from those of undergraduates, "the study and life pressures encountered by graduate students are completely different from those of undergraduates, and the opportunities for trial and error are much less than those of undergraduates." The essence of education is to promote the all-round development of people, and colleges and universities should give priority to the development needs of individual graduate students. The interview found that graduate students pay special attention to their own development, "hoping that the university can provide more opportunities for overseas exchanges" and "strengthen the construction of workplaces and employment information". Developmental support should run through the process of graduate admission, training and employment. In addition, the mental health status of graduate students is related to the quality of development of graduate students. "If the project doesn't go well, it will also cause some anxiety in the body." The health care role of preventive support should be emphasized. This type of support adopts a strategy of prevention and mitigation to nip the mental health risks of graduate students in the cradle. For graduate students who have already fallen into a psychological crisis or suffer from mental illness, interventional support provides necessary compensation and repair. "I hope that the tutor will give clear instructions and help to the students who have postponed their graduation" and "provide grants and allowances to students who have postponed their graduation". In summary, colleges and universities should pay attention to the specific support content required by graduate students at different stages through investigation and research, and establish a scientific support mechanism that matches the needs.
Second, efforts should be made to increase the penetration rate of psychological support in the daily life of graduate students. The topics with more negative feedback from graduate students relate to: (1) lack of professional guidance related to careers. Graduate students are generally concerned about whether their personal skills and professional knowledge meet the market demand, and they look to the university to provide more practical career planning guidance and employment resources. (2) Insufficient help for students who fail to pass the question and postpone graduation. "It is really not easy for those students who postpone their graduation, they are assigned to dormitories with poor conditions, and there is no living allowance, and the academic pressure is already great." (3) The prevalence of mental health services among graduate students is not high. Such feedback mainly focuses on the scarcity of mental health service resources, the low level of information popularization and the inconvenience of services. "It's hard to make an appointment for psychological counseling, and I only make an appointment because I am suicidal." Colleges and universities need to "take the initiative to explore" to understand the psychological needs of graduate students and develop comprehensive and effective psychological support strategies.
Finally, it is necessary to expand the scope of psychological support for graduate students and comprehensively implement it in a way that meets the needs of graduate students. Considering the characteristics of graduate students, such as time constraints, goal orientation, and high autonomy, the methods of support include: (1) using psychological support as a concept and creating a supportive culture and environment. Graduate students often feel supported by the university as "their own" in terms of human and material resources, information, advice or guidance. For example, "the secretary will regularly chat with graduate students, interview or something, which is useful for us to solve psychological problems." (2) Psychological support is used as a methodological process to give full play to the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functions of psychological support.
(2) Process optimization: The implementation plan of psychological support for graduate students should be developed towards precision
At present, the main reason for the unsatisfactory effect of psychological support for graduate students in mainland China is that universities do not pay enough attention to the psychological support needs of graduate students, and lack of clear guidance and norms. Based on empirical research and practical experience at home and abroad, the mainland can start from both macro policy and micro action to promote the implementation of psychological support for graduate students.
1. Macro level. First, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of the psychological support and guarantee system for graduate students. At present, the relevant policies of psychological support for graduate students in mainland China highlight the characteristics of "more flexibility and less rigidity", and learn from the mature laws and regulations of the United States and Finland to improve the implementation of psychological support policies for graduate students in mainland China. Second, it is necessary to establish a special psychological support organization for graduate students on campus. The institution is responsible for developing and implementing a psychological support plan that meets the needs of graduate students. Third, it is necessary to expand the resources of psychological services for graduate students. Integrate forces inside and outside the school to form a coordinated support network. By learning from the use of off-campus resources in universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Finland, the mainland can actively promote the integration of social organizations, hospitals, and internal resources with universities, and jointly build an efficient and linked psychological support team. Fourth, it is necessary to increase the investment in psychological support for graduate students. Accelerate and improve the multi-channel funding system for graduate students' psychological support, actively introduce social capital, and give play to the government's leading role in capital investment, so as to ensure the smooth progress of graduate students' psychological support activities.
2. Specific level. First, it is necessary to ensure the quality of psychological support services, especially those with low satisfaction rates. According to the survey, high standards of developmental and interventional support services should continue to be maintained. For the projects with a low satisfaction rate in these two types of support, such as career development guidance and academic distress assistance, more help can be provided to graduate students in the form of strengthening graduate students' career planning education and career guidance, joint assistance of faculties and departments, opportunity guarantee and aftercare guarantee. In addition, preventive support measures need to be improved, such as setting up academic counseling and counseling for graduate students, increasing mental health awareness, creating a positive department and laboratory culture, expanding online resources for psychological support, and setting up special mental health services for graduate students. Second, we should focus on balancing the needs of different groups of graduate students to ensure that graduate students have equitable access to the support they need. Based on the results of the real-time survey, universities should make good use of existing resources and fine-tune the quality and quantity of support services to meet the needs of different graduate students as much as possible.
(3) Clarify responsibilities: The division of labor among the main subjects of psychological support for graduate students should be refined
In order to effectively promote the all-round development of graduate students, in addition to establishing and improving the working mechanism of psychological support for graduate students and formulating specific rules, it is also necessary to clarify the tasks of each subject of psychological support for graduate students, refine the implementation of the responsibilities of the participating subjects, and ensure the orderly development of psychological support for graduate students.
The main body of the construction of the psychological support system for graduate students should be led by the government, with universities as the core, and composed of the collaborative participation of all sectors of society, including graduate tutors, graduate counselors, ideological and political educators, mental health educators, career guidance teachers, and peer support groups. First of all, it is necessary to form a core team led by graduate tutors and graduate counselors, combined with mental health education teachers, ideological and political educators, and career planning instructors, and fully absorb peer support groups of different natures to form a joint force of graduate psychological support service teams. Secondly, the responsibilities of each participant in the psychological support of graduate students should be clarified. For example, the Ministry of Education leads the construction of a psychological support system for graduate students and is responsible for supervising the implementation. The financial department should ensure that there is a stable source of funding for psychological support for graduate students. As the main body of psychological support for graduate students, colleges and universities need to effectively integrate resources inside and outside the university, and carry out academic and rational research on psychological support for graduate students. Thirdly, it is necessary to clarify the responsibilities and incentive mechanisms of the school's support team. Graduate student counselors should not only do a good job in promoting and educating graduate students about mental health, but also actively cooperate with other relevant personnel to provide support for graduate students. At the same time, it is necessary to actively play the auxiliary role of peer support teams of different natures. Finally, it is necessary to provide supporting policies to encourage and mobilize social forces to give full play to their advantages and participate in the psychological support work of graduate students.
(This article was first published in China Higher Education Research, Issue 6, 2024)