Influence of coping, self-esteem and social support on undergraduate students’ emotional distress

Design of sports achievement prediction system based on U-net convolutional neural network in the context of machine learning

Sports plays a pivotal role in national development. To accurately predict college students' sports performance and motivate them to improve their physical fitness, this study constructs a sports achievement prediction system by using a U-Net Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) in machine learning. Firstly, the current state of physical education teachers' instructional proficiency is investigated and analyzed to identify existing problems. Secondly, an improved U-Net-based sports achievement prediction system is proposed. This method enhances the utilization and propagation of network features by incorporating dense connections, thus addressing gradient disappearance issues. Simultaneously, an improved mixed loss function is introduced to alleviate class imbalance. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed system is validated through testing, demonstrating that the improved U-Net CNN algorithm yields superior results. Specifically, the prediction accuracy of the improved network for sports performance surpasses that of the original U-Net by 4.22 % and exceeds that of DUNet by 5.22 %. Compared with other existing prediction networks, the improved U-Net CNN model exhibits a superior achievement prediction ability. Consequently, the proposed system enhances teaching and learning efficiency and offers insights into applying artificial intelligence technology to smart classroom development.

Psycho-social components determining the strategies of coping with stress in undergraduate Polish nursing students

BACKGROUND

In order for the nursing students to fully benefit from the clinical experience, it is necessary for them to be able to handle education-related stress. It is important to establish the importance of personal resources and social determinants, that influence coping strategies in stressful situations.

METHODS

The cross-sectional study was conducted among 307 nursing students. The study research tools: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R), Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), Clinical Learning Environment Inventory (CLEI - 19), Brief COPE and the original questionnaire were used.

RESULTS

Active strategies of coping with stress were used significantly more often by the respondents with a greater sense of self-efficacy, a greater sense of life satisfaction and disposable optimism. Avoidance strategies of coping with stress were used significantly more often by the respondents with low self-efficacy, low level of disposable optimism, low sense of life satisfaction, and not a lot of teacher support. The higher was the intensity of stress experienced by students, the more often they coped by avoidance behaviour or showing helplessness.

CONCLUSIONS

All the variables had a significant impact on coping with stress: the level of perceived stress, disposable optimism, sense of self-efficacy, sense of life satisfaction, as well as satisfaction with the stay in a hospital ward, support received from the teacher and the year of the study. The results of the research have allowed the identification of the needs in the field of strengthening the personal resources of nursing students. In the future, they may be useful for the development of educational programs.

Teaching and discussing mental health among university students: a pilot arts-based study

Purpose

Interdisciplinary approaches to health education are becoming increasingly common. Here, the authors describe an arts-based approach designed by academics and artists to both supplement the study of mental illness and support the individual mental health of undergraduate and postgraduate university students, by raising the visibility of mental illness in an innovative way.

Design/methodology/approach

Through workshops, university students were guided in a sensory and physical way to discuss psychological health and vulnerability. This was followed by the creation of physical representations of mental distress through art pieces.

Findings

Students were able to design their own art pieces and discuss mental health issues in an open and creative way. Students reported that the arts-based initiative was beneficial to their practice as future professionals and provided a holistic learning experience. At the same time, artists were able to generate powerful images which facilitated further discussions within the faculty.

Practical implications

This project provides an innovative model for workshops which could be employed to raise the visibility of common mental health disorders among university students while providing a safe space to discuss and support wellbeing. Additionally, variations could be implemented to enhance the teaching of affective disorders within a university curriculum.

Originality/value

This paper presents the results of collaboration between academics and artists, who together generated an innovative way to both support students' mental health and provide an alternative way to supplement experiential learning about common mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.