2015 RTL Conference

Over the past decade, universities and colleges across Canada have introduced a fall break into their term calendars with the goal of reducing student stress and increasing student retention and success. Such effects could be expected to allow students to be more active and enduring participants in their university community and experience. In 2015, a full-week fall break was introduced at McMaster University. In spite of the increasing adoption of a fall break in post-secondary institutions across Canada, there is no published research investigating whether implementing a fall break successfully meets the goal of decreasing student stress. In this study, we are evaluating student stress through surveys, focus groups, and cortisol levels. Here, we report on the pattern of results in cortisol, which is a physiological marker of stress that can be extracted from saliva. Undergraduate students at McMaster were asked to collect saliva in the week before the fall break and the week after the fall break. To provide a control group, students at McGill University, which does not have a fall break, were asked to do the same. Levels of cortisol were compared to measure stress levels between and within each group. If the fall break is effective at lowering student stress, cortisol levels should be a) lower after the fall break than before the fall break in McMaster students, and b) more consistent in McGill students than McMaster students. Results could support future evidence based decision-making regarding the fall break, both at McMaster and at other Canadian post-secondary institutions.