Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program/Concentration

Occupational and Technical Studies (Workforce & Organizational Development)

Committee Director

Mickey Kosloski

Committee Member

Sherri Norman

Committee Member

Philip A. Reed

Abstract

As higher education institutions seek to assist students with the first-year transition, coaching is one intervention shown to increase academic performance and retention rates (Capstick et al., 2019). Along with academics, fostering student success from a holistic perspective is imperative (Bentrim & Henning, 2022). The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of participation in success coaching on the psychological well-being and sense of belonging for first-year college students. The study also investigated the impact of success coaching on first-generation students. Existing data were used to compare participation in success coaching to overall psychological well-being and sense of belonging scale scores. First-year students (n = 801) completed the Psychological Well-Being Scale and Sense of Belonging Scale which were embedded in a first-year survey to capture their campus experiences.

This quantitative study used a one-way multivariate analysis of variance to understand the effect of success coaching on psychological well-being and sense of belonging. For success coaching participants, the effect of number of meetings on psychological well-being and sense of belonging was also tested. A two-way multivariance analysis of variance was used to determine the interaction of being a first-generation student and participating in success coaching on psychological well-being and sense of belonging. For first-generation students that also participated in success coaching, the effect of number of meetings on psychological well-being and sense of belonging was tested using a one-way multivariate analysis of variance.

Results showed a statistically significant difference in success coaching participation on psychological well-being of first-year students. There was a significant difference on the collective impact of coaching on psychological well-being and sense of belonging, however no significant difference on sense of belonging individually. For psychological well-being, there was also a statistically significant difference on attendance at 0 meetings versus 4-6 meetings. There was no significant difference in other meeting groups and no significant difference in meeting group comparisons for sense of belonging. In addition, results showed no significant differences for first-generation students that participated in success coaching. Recommendations are discussed for future research and practical applications extending from the results of this study

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DOI

10.25777/30qn-yb87

ISBN

9798280760691

ORCID

0000-0001-8904-375X

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