2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Engineering programs are often rigorous, with high expectations and workload. As a result, poor self-care habits might be perceived as part of the engineering identity, where rigor, stress, and suffering are considered norms of being an engineer. This perception has been studied by scientists, and literature data suggests that undergraduate engineering students are less likely to seek help when suffering from a mental illness compared to non-engineering students. Good self-care habits contribute to overall physical and mental wellness, which is correlated with academic success in the context of engineering education. Not surprisingly, higher education institutions have developed and offer a variety of wellness programs. However, engineering students are less likely to utilize such resources due to their high workload and the stigma associated with engineering identity. Prioritizing self-care activities over coursework may be seen as violating a cultural norm within the engineering discipline. This behavior served as motivation for the authors to develop an elective wellness course housed in the chemical engineering department at the University of California Davis (UC Davis). By offering a course where participants allocate time with their engineering peers and faculty to discuss and practice self-care activities, we aimed that participants would experience a decrease in their stress level and gain training in how to care about their overall wellness. The objective of this work is to describe the development, structure, and activities of the new engineering wellness course at UC Davis, which was piloted during the 2022-2023 academic year. The main goal of the class was to guide students to develop and practice good self-care habits. Each class/activity focused on a self-care domain (cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, physical, practical, and spiritual). Additionally, activities were performed to build positive and meaningful relationships with peers and faculty. Students’ feedback indicated that the course helped to decrease their stress level during the quarter, and that the interaction with other students was a valuable part of the course.