journal_vol49no3 - 23

Investigating the Mental Health of Housing Staff
The following survey item was also added at the end of the MHI-5:
Do you believe that the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with your role in university housing,
has negatively impacted your mental health?
Data Analyses
Data analyses included descriptive statistics for all variables of the MHI-5 survey
instrument, as well as the additional survey item. Mean scores of all variables were
compared across all grouping variables with sample sizes over 10 through Cohen's d
effect size calculations and eta-squared (η²) calculations. Independent sample t-tests,
one-way ANOVAs, and one-way Welch ANOVAs, in instances where data violated the
assumption of homogeneity of variances, were conducted to determine if there were
any statistical differences between groups.
LIMITATIONS
This study has several limitations. First, the generalizability of some of the results
may be limited due to smaller sample sizes for some groupings. Regardless, these
results still uncover unique insights into the mental health status of various housing
professionals, as well as the impact the pandemic has had on their mental health. The
results also draw focus to areas for future research and recommendations for practice.
The limited results indicate the need for further exploration in future research endeavors
on this topic. Furthermore, institutions may have responded to the CDC's recommended
COVID-19 guidelines very differently, either implementing every recommendation
or none at all, based on institutional leadership and/or institutional type, and
these differences could have impacted the mental health of people in the same housing
functional role very differently. Additionally, this study did not account for the crises
occurring alongside the pandemic-financial strain, social isolation, polarizing political
opinions, racially charged violence, mass shootings, and travel bans-that may
have contributed to overall decreased mental health. Lastly, although temporal boundaries
were established for participants to strictly center their MHI-5 responses on the
pandemic, data were collected at only one point in time (post-pandemic), which might
have made it difficult for respondents to filter their responses accordingly.
RESULTS
MHI-5 Descriptive Statistics and Scoring Across Groups
Descriptive statistics displayed how respondents evaluated each of the items in the
MHI-5 instrument, as well as the additional item (see Table 2, page 21). Out of the 218
survey respondents, 81.2% (177) scored below the MHI-5 cut-off mark of 76. The mean
score was 54.51. The most common MHI-5 score (mode) was 40, which was scored by
9.2% (20) of the respondents. Refer to Table 3 (see page 22) for MHI-5 scores reported
across grouping variables.
20 The Journal of College and University Student Housing

journal_vol49no3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of journal_vol49no3

journal_vol49no3 - 1
journal_vol49no3 - 2
journal_vol49no3 - 3
journal_vol49no3 - 4
journal_vol49no3 - 5
journal_vol49no3 - 6
journal_vol49no3 - 7
journal_vol49no3 - 8
journal_vol49no3 - 9
journal_vol49no3 - 10
journal_vol49no3 - 11
journal_vol49no3 - 12
journal_vol49no3 - 13
journal_vol49no3 - 14
journal_vol49no3 - 15
journal_vol49no3 - 16
journal_vol49no3 - 17
journal_vol49no3 - 18
journal_vol49no3 - 19
journal_vol49no3 - 20
journal_vol49no3 - 21
journal_vol49no3 - 22
journal_vol49no3 - 23
journal_vol49no3 - 24
journal_vol49no3 - 25
journal_vol49no3 - 26
journal_vol49no3 - 27
journal_vol49no3 - 28
journal_vol49no3 - 29
journal_vol49no3 - 30
journal_vol49no3 - 31
journal_vol49no3 - 32
journal_vol49no3 - 33
journal_vol49no3 - 34
journal_vol49no3 - 35
journal_vol49no3 - 36
journal_vol49no3 - 37
journal_vol49no3 - 38
journal_vol49no3 - 39
journal_vol49no3 - 40
journal_vol49no3 - 41
journal_vol49no3 - 42
journal_vol49no3 - 43
journal_vol49no3 - 44
journal_vol49no3 - 45
journal_vol49no3 - 46
journal_vol49no3 - 47
journal_vol49no3 - 48
journal_vol49no3 - 49
journal_vol49no3 - 50
journal_vol49no3 - 51
journal_vol49no3 - 52
journal_vol49no3 - 53
journal_vol49no3 - 54
journal_vol49no3 - 55
journal_vol49no3 - 56
journal_vol49no3 - 57
journal_vol49no3 - 58
journal_vol49no3 - 59
journal_vol49no3 - 60
journal_vol49no3 - 61
journal_vol49no3 - 62
journal_vol49no3 - 63
journal_vol49no3 - 64
journal_vol49no3 - 65
journal_vol49no3 - 66
journal_vol49no3 - 67
journal_vol49no3 - 68
journal_vol49no3 - 69
journal_vol49no3 - 70
journal_vol49no3 - 71
journal_vol49no3 - 72
journal_vol49no3 - 73
journal_vol49no3 - 74
journal_vol49no3 - 75
journal_vol49no3 - 76
journal_vol49no3 - 77
journal_vol49no3 - 78
journal_vol49no3 - 79
journal_vol49no3 - 80
journal_vol49no3 - 81
journal_vol49no3 - 82
journal_vol49no3 - 83
journal_vol49no3 - 84
journal_vol49no3 - 85
journal_vol49no3 - 86
journal_vol49no3 - 87
journal_vol49no3 - 88
journal_vol49no3 - 89
journal_vol49no3 - 90
journal_vol49no3 - 91
journal_vol49no3 - 92
journal_vol49no3 - 93
journal_vol49no3 - 94
journal_vol49no3 - 95
journal_vol49no3 - 96
journal_vol49no3 - 97
journal_vol49no3 - 98
journal_vol49no3 - 99
journal_vol49no3 - 100
journal_vol49no3 - 101
journal_vol49no3 - 102
journal_vol49no3 - 103
journal_vol49no3 - 104
journal_vol49no3 - 105
journal_vol49no3 - 106
journal_vol49no3 - 107
journal_vol49no3 - 108
journal_vol49no3 - 109
journal_vol49no3 - 110
journal_vol49no3 - 111
journal_vol49no3 - 112
journal_vol49no3 - 113
journal_vol49no3 - 114
journal_vol49no3 - 115
journal_vol49no3 - 116
journal_vol49no3 - 117
journal_vol49no3 - 118
journal_vol49no3 - 119
journal_vol49no3 - 120
journal_vol49no3 - 121
journal_vol49no3 - 122
journal_vol49no3 - 123
journal_vol49no3 - 124
journal_vol49no3 - 125
journal_vol49no3 - 126
journal_vol49no3 - 127
journal_vol49no3 - 128
journal_vol49no3 - 129
journal_vol49no3 - 130
journal_vol49no3 - 131
journal_vol49no3 - 132
journal_vol49no3 - 133
journal_vol49no3 - 134
journal_vol49no3 - 135
journal_vol49no3 - 136
journal_vol49no3 - 137
journal_vol49no3 - 138
journal_vol49no3 - 139
journal_vol49no3 - 140
journal_vol49no3 - 141
journal_vol49no3 - 142
journal_vol49no3 - 143
journal_vol49no3 - 144
journal_vol49no3 - 145
journal_vol49no3 - 146
journal_vol49no3 - 147
journal_vol49no3 - 148
journal_vol49no3 - 149
journal_vol49no3 - 150
journal_vol49no3 - 151
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol51no1
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol50no3
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol50no2
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol50no1
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol49no3
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol49no2
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol48no3
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol49no1
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol48no2
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol48no1
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol47no3
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol47no2
https://www.nxtbook.com/acuho-i/acuho/journal_vol47no1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol46no2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol46no3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol46no1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol45no2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol45no3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol45no1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol44no3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol44no2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol44no1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol43no3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol43no2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol43no1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol42no2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol42no3
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol41no2
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/acuho/journal_vol40no2
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com