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The Work-Study Balance: Examining the Effects of Mental Workload, Sleep, and Hours of Study, Work, and Carer Responsibilities on Mental Fatigue in a Tertiary Student Population. Researcher: Pagan Ebsary Supervisor: Libby Brook Date: May 2009 Background: In 2006 the Murdoch University Guild conducted a welfare survey to identify issues relating to the well-being of tertiary students studying on campus. Of the 666 students surveyed, executive summary reports indicated that 75 percent of students reported they had been forced to study part-time as they could not cope with the demands of full-time study combined with the amount of hours they had to work in order to support themselves. Introduction: Mental workload and mental fatigue are two important areas in the field of organisational psychology. Together, both phenomena have been researched extensively in an occupational, clinical, and experimental setting. In addition to this, both sleep factors and extended hours of work have been found to be deleterious to mental fatigue. Although the effects of mental workload on mental fatigue have been researched extensively, very little has focused on the effects of this on individuals outside of an occupational, experimental, and clinical setting. Like that of the work-life balance, the work-study balance is an integral part of tertiary student’s lives, however, few studies have empirically and systematically examined this and its effects on student’s well-being. More specifically, little research has directly examined the effects of mental workload, sleep factors, and hours of work on mental fatigue. Due to lack of empirical evidence, an existence of such relationships for tertiary students can only be inferred. The primary objective of this study was to examine the effects of mental workload on mental fatigue and to further investigate the cumulative effects of sleep factors and extended hours of study, paid and/or volunteer work, and carer responsibilities in a tertiary student population. Overview of the study: The data were collected as part of a broader study “Fatigue: Subjective Sleep Need versus actual sleep and Workload”. The sample for the present study consisted of 61 undergraduate students (16 males, 45 females) from a range of disciplines and universities throughout Perth Western Australia. Of the 61 subjects, 80.3 percent were aged between 17-25, 11.5 percent were aged between 26-35, 3.3 percent were aged between 36-45 and 46-55, and 1.6 percent were aged between 56-65. As a requirement for inclusion in the study subjects had to be engaged in tertiary level study-related tasks and paid and/or volunteer work, however there were no requirements for the amount of hours that subjects were engaged in for both during the 7 day testing period. Subjects were provided with a take home pack; inclusive of this pack were the measures and materials described below.
During the 7 day testing period subjects were required to complete the 10 min PVT task and sleep diary twice daily, at the beginning (approximately an hour after waking) and end of each day (approximately an hour before retiring). In addition to this, subjects were required to complete the NASA-TLX workload scales directly following the completion of each block of study related, paid and/or volunteer tasks, and carer responsibilities undertaken each day. What was found:
Concluding Remarks: Indicative of the effects of mental fatigue, results from the present study found significant differences between student’s morning and evening measures of cognitive task performance, a trend commonly cited in the mental fatigue literature. However, contrary to previous findings the present study did not support the original hypotheses. Several explanations for the current observed pattern of results are plausible. It is possible that the population from which the data were collected may not truly represent those students who are adversely affected by high mental workload and extended hours engaged in study, work, and/or carer responsibilities. It is postulated that a student who is already burdened with a high mental workload and/or extended hours engaged in study, work, and/or carer responsibilities may not willingly volunteer themselves for a study running over a 7 day period requiring an hour of their time each day. Despite the non significant findings, a rather noteworthy finding provided by the study was that throughout the initial 7 day testing period there were no significant reported recovery periods of more than 24 hours. This in itself holds important implications for the scheduling of sufficient recovery periods for tertiary students; however, further research is warranted. Due to the unique nature of the present study, and therefore taking in to account the limitation of available literature pertaining to this population, it is not surprising that the results obtained deviate from those of previous findings. However, despite the inconsistent results in the present study, this should not constrain the extent to which future research builds on the limitations in order to further examine the effects of mental workload, sleep factors, and extended hours of work on mental fatigue. In conclusion, this unique area of research warrants further in-depth and constructive investigations. Murdoch Guild Student Welfare Survey. (2006). Executive summary. Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia.
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