Many studies have concluded that working a large number of hours per week has a detrimental effect on young people’s studies and well-being, but those that explore the positive impact of work on their mental health are rarer.
This is the area of research that two professors from the University of Montreal are exploring.
Nancy Beauregard, from the School of Industrial Relations, and Véronique Dupéré, from the School of Psychoeducation, focus more specifically on how students manage to reconcile work, family, their networks and their commitment to society and how this reconciliation influences their mental health.
Map promising practices
Véronique Dupéré and Nancy Beauregard
Credit: Amélie Philibert, University of Montreal
Both are at work within Myriagone ‒ McConnell-University of Montreal Chair in Youth Knowledge Mobilizationwhich brings together partners from various backgrounds, including youth partners.
“We are interested, among other things, in the mental health of young people who transition to adult life through their studies and work,” explains Nancy Beauregard. It’s an important milestone in their journey and our approach considers different areas of their lives.”
And in collaboration with partners in education, public health and the youth association sector, they are also looking at work among adolescents. They also presented a brief last spring on bill no.o 19 intended to regulate the work of children aged 16 and under.
This collaboration, supported by the Public Health Research Center of UdeM, continues within the intersectoral project on work-study balance, launched jointly by the Montreal Regional Public Health Department and Montreal Success Network.
Recently, Nancy Beauregard and Véronique Dupéré joined the ranks of theObservatory on student mental health in higher educationset up last February and co-directed by Julie Lane, from the University of Sherbrooke, and Benjamin Gallais, from Cégep de Jonquière.
They are responsible for the work, study and personal life balance area.
“Our project is just starting out and it targets both working CEGEP and university students as well as young people who have completed their studies and who have just entered the job market,” continues Véronique Dupéré. Through a multitude of profiles, we want to map promising practices in terms of conciliation as well as the needs to support them.”
“One of the major points that stands out so far is that, while there are risks in working too much while studying, work itself also creates opportunities for development and learning that facilitate the transition to adult life. », underlines Nancy Beauregard.
The professor of industrial relations adds: “We are seeking to verify how work allows young people to enrich their skills and instill values which can be transposed into their school career and how this conciliation can also be a vector of health.”
Already, some doctoral research recently published studies show that work can play a positive role and support mental health when the number of hours is compatible with the spheres of private life and the type of employment is linked to professional aspirations and the desired career.
A project on the psychosocial work environment
Nancy Beauregard also directs a research project on the psychosocial work environment among young people.
Carried out in collaboration with Force jeunesse, this project calls on around fifteen participants, some of whom study at CEGEP or university, and aims to evaluate the representations that young people have of the stress factors they perceive in their environment. work.
“To do this, we will use a photovoice on which young people will post images that they have taken of what they consider to be stressors at work,” she explains. It is a democratic exercise which allows them to name and understand the different realities they experience and which facilitates exchanges with others on different perspectives.
Through this exercise, Nancy Beauregard wishes to highlight the psychosocial risks of work among young people in order to make them aware of stress factors “which can sometimes be vague and abstract”.
“This project is also taking place in the new legislative context resulting from the modernization of the Occupational Health and Safety Act by the introduction of psychosocial risks at work which must now be prevented, targeted and mitigated to promote health and security,” contextualizes Nancy Beauregard.
“It is important to see how work stressors affect young people and we are convinced that this research project will allow the emergence of other initiatives aimed at improving the mental health of young workers,” concludes the professor. .
2023-11-02 20:02:22
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