Perceived university justice: How unfairly treated do students feel and how high is the associated health risk? Development and validation of a questionnaire for the assessment of university justice based on the concept of organizational justice

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Katharina Diehl
• Subject Area: Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 444903127

Not only in the general population, but also in the subpopulation of students, stress is a widespread phenomenon. Besides poorer learning outcomes, this also has negative consequences for the individual health of students. Statistics show that about half a million students in Germany are mentally ill; the proportion of 18 to 25 year-olds with mental health diagnoses has risen by 38% between 2005 and 2016.One reason for the emergence of stress can be an experienced injustice. Theoretical and empirical work on perceived fairness in the workplace ("organizational justice") has shown that perceived injustice is related to various stress indicators and health outcomes. Meanwhile, there is some evidence that injustice is important not only in the context of work, but also in the context of universities. In this context, grades, recognition for good performance, or the awarding of topics for master thesis may possibly be events that can be perceived as unfair and may be related to increased stress.To study this, a theory-based development of a specific measuring instrument which is adapted to the university context is an important milestone. Findings of this instrument could make it possible to create a healthier and more learning-friendly environment for students as well as to identify and eliminate potential sources of danger at an early stage. For this reason, the aim of the proposed project is to adapt the construct of organizational justice to the context of universities by using an established scientific approach. For this purpose, a valid and practicable measuring instrument will be developed, which will be tested in the field for the first time during the project. It also examines the relationship of perceived fairness among students with different health outcomes.The development of the measuring instrument with the working title "UFair" (University Fairness Questionnaire) follows an established, seven-step process for questionnaire development. An exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, in which qualitative and quantitative methods are combined, is used. In addition, experts and the target group of students are involved in the development. The last of the seven steps of development includes a nationwide pilot study of the questionnaire, which will give a first idea of the prevalence of university inequality. In addition, it will describe the relationship between perceived university inequality and various health outcomes. The UFair questionnaire will be made available to other scientists free of charge in order to describe perceived university justice in smaller, local subgroups of students and to make the university context more favorable to study and health.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants