ArticleBMC psychology2025
Assessing the well-being of PhD scholars: a scoping review.
Article in BMC psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Psychological Outcomes and Research Engagement Among PhD Students in Medicine and Health Sciences: A Systematic Review.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Investigating PhD students' wellbeing and mental health: towards evidence-led and innovative solutions.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The mechanisms underlying the influence of perceived pressure on doctoral students' learning engagement: a serial mediation of social support and academic self-efficacy.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- When peer review drags on: the harm to early career researchers.Frontiers in research metrics and analytics · 2026Article
- Supervisor-group culture, age and the stress-burnout mechanism: a qualitative study of Chinese doctoral students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Influence of psychological capital on the research ability of master's degree students in medical academic degrees: the mediating role of research investment and the moderating role of mentorship guidance.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Mental Health Among Spanish Doctoral Students: Relationship Between Anxiety, Depression, Life Satisfaction, and Mentoring.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- Exploring life skills, research adaptation, and team building among basic medical postgraduates.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGaining insight into the well-being of PhD scholars is essential for cultivating a nurturing academic environment that boosts their efficiency and adds to the overall excellence of higher education. Our scoping review aimed to comprehensively map and analyse the current body of literature on the well-being of PhD scholars, identify important themes and gaps, and offer valuable insights for future studies and interventions to improve the overall well-being of PhD scholars.
methodsWe conducted a scoping review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis-Scoping Review extension as per the Joanna Briggs Institute Protocol guidelines. A systematic search was performed across search engines and databases, including Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL Ultimate, and Web of Science. The data were retrieved from inception to May 2024. All identified records were gathered and imported into the Covidence Software for screening, removing duplication, and final selection by the review team. The socio-ecological framework was used as a theoretical framework to analyse the data thematically.
resultsThe search across five databases resulted in the identification of 3,391 records, supplemented by an additional 25 records from Google Scholar as grey literature. Following the application of the eligibility criteria and thorough deliberation by the review team, 63 records were included in the review. Inductive thematic analysis systematically identified a conceptual framework encompassing the description of PhD scholars' well-being. The results revealed a comprehensive understanding of the concept of the well-being of PhD scholars, identifying themes at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy levels.
conclusionThe scoping review highlighted the complex, diverse, and multifaceted nature of PhD scholars' well-being, emphasising the need for comprehensive and tailored interventions at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy levels to enhance their overall well-being.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.