Physics Graduate Students' Conceptualizations of Well-being: An Exploration of the PERMA Framework

In recent years, there have been many calls to improve the well-being of graduate students. A recent review showed that only around 60% of first-year graduate students will go on to receive their doctorates, and some of this departure could be due to low well-being and high stressors. Well-being has various definitions and frameworks in psychology literature, and there is some conflict in the literature as to what is the "best" or "ideal" framework. The PERMA (Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment) framework is a commonly used well-being framework in positive psychology. The PERMA framework has been used in educational contexts but not in the context of physics graduate education. Since we expect disciplinary culture to impact perspectives of well-being, the aim of this study is to explore how physics graduates conceptualize well-being and whether the PERMA framework is useful in the context of physics graduate education. Here we present findings from interviews with physics graduate students discussing their conceptions of well-being and sorting the PERMA framework elements by contribution to their well-being. Understanding the effects of well-being could help shape support for graduate students at various levels, guide program reform, and increase student retention.