Unknown Speaker 0:02

Testing testing. Hi, thank you for your time. I'll quickly run through the aim of
this interview. The reason for this interview is to better understand how burnout,
whether that be mental, physical and or emotional impacts materials, university
students who are or aren't meeting their self care needs. Please read the consent
form and let me know if you have any questions. Is it okay if I start recording?
Yes. All right. So we'll start with the mature age aspects topics. So, first
question, what age will you be by the time you graduate? 14. Okay, how does the
aspect of being mature affect your university experience?

Unknown Speaker 0:40

I feel like I'm in a minority. And I feel like things are more difficult for me
because I've got a family to care for. And lots of roles in that family. And it's
very difficult, and I don't feel like there's other people I can talk to about
that. So I feel isolated.

Unknown Speaker 1:06

Okay. Do you feel you were treated differently for your age? At uni? And if so, how
and what?

Unknown Speaker 1:15

I'm not sure that I'm treated any differently by the uni people, by the other
students. I guess I'm just a little bit invisible. Because I'm not on their
wavelength and not where they are in life.

Unknown Speaker 1:35

All right. Well, that leads me into the next question, which is how well slash easy
do you find it to interact with your peers for support?

Unknown Speaker 1:45

Not that easy. It's easy enough to probably have a short hello with somebody but
it's a bit difficult to talk about my fight with my husband or how hard my kids are
looking after. When they haven't got a clue what I'm talking about, and they
probably just want to talk about going out or something. It's it's just, we're just
different wavelengths.

Unknown Speaker 2:17

Okay, let's swing the ball here a bit and go what other commitments do you have
outside of study?

Unknown Speaker 2:25

Well, I have a family and I put a run the household and do all the cleaning.
Because that's my cultural background. And I've got two kids and I have to get them
ready for school and help them with their schoolwork. I do all the cooking and the
shopping. And as well as that because the cost of living is so difficult for us. I
have to work as well. So I've got my job in the aged care facility as well. And
it's it's all very overwhelming at times.

Unknown Speaker 3:08

Right well, how do you cope with the juggling slash the pressure of study combined
with external commitments?

Unknown Speaker 3:16

It's just always a juggle. It's best if I can wait till the kids are off to bed
before I look at any study, if I can, because I often don't have the energy and I
have a chronic disease as well. And when I'm sick, I just don't have the energy to
deal with the study. My husband helps a bit when I'm sick. But I still feel like
I've got a hell of a lot of work to do all the time. So yeah, I feel like I'm
constantly juggling all the time.
Unknown Speaker 3:53
All right, we'll switch over to topic two now, which is the aspect of digital self
care. We'll open the first question which is Do you know anything about digital
self care? If so, what and how much?

Unknown Speaker 4:06

I don't know that much about it. I did speak to my GP when I was quite depressed a
couple of times and when I was late for assignments a couple of times. And she gave
me some handouts. But to be honest, I just didn't have time to even read them. It's
just a time issue.

Unknown Speaker 4:32

All right. How does the aspect of being mature affects your university experience?
Like oh, sorry, that's the wrong question. How does digital self care play a role
in your life?

Unknown Speaker 4:44

I do have a meditation app that my sister found for me. And I like to play that
when I'm having trouble getting to sleep at night. And I do find that helps me a
little bit to try to turn my brain off. I have heard that there's other apps like
to look at your mood and other things. But again, that's just difficult to find
time.

Unknown Speaker 5:14

Right? Well then, yeah. How often do you use digital self care?

Unknown Speaker 5:20

I probably use my meditation app. When I'm going to bed most nights of the week.
And I would like to have a look at some of the other mental health sites, but I
just can't seem to get any time.

Unknown Speaker 5:40

How useful is and important is digital self care to you.

Unknown Speaker 5:46

I think it's important because I could certainly not get the time to make
appointments with psychologists or other self care things like gym or exercise
that's just very, very difficult for me to fit in.

Unknown Speaker 6:08

All right, how connected does digital self care make you feel?

Unknown Speaker 6:14

I well, because I only use the meditation app. I'm not really sure how I can answer
that. But I guess in some ways, if I could access digital, self care more, I would
feel more connected maybe to uni and possibly even to other students who might be
using the same sort of apps. But at this stage, that's just not happening. I just
don't have enough access or knowledge or time to get that far.

Unknown Speaker 6:50

All right, if you had to give a rough guess, how much time do you spend on other
websites and digital applications compared to time spent with digital self care?

Unknown Speaker 7:05

Not really sure. I don't spend a lot of unnecessary time on websites and it it's
mostly just my study. Sometimes I need to buy something or order something or make
an appointment online. But I couldn't tell you how often I do that. It's it's just
not really that much. And life is too busy with everything and so my yearly usually
takes up any spare time I might have

Unknown Speaker 7:47

in your normal sort of regular and calm daily routine, do you remember to use your
digital self care when needed?

Unknown Speaker 7:55

I don't really have the time. That's the problem. And if I do have a bit of a
break, then often I just want to lie down and my backache so much I just want to
rest it my feet sometimes. So no, sometimes I just want to rest

Unknown Speaker 8:14

and hope alternatively, in moments of crisis, do you remember to use digital self
care when needed?

Unknown Speaker 8:22

I guess if I was in a crisis, I would be using my meditation app. At night, that's
for sure. And I would probably talk to my GP and maybe I would talk to my GP about
accessing some other help.

Unknown Speaker 8:43

All right, now the last topic three which is stress. What does stress mean to you?
What is your definition and understanding of stress?

Unknown Speaker 8:54

I think my understanding of stress is when there's too much pressure and it's
difficult to cope with it and difficult to have a balanced happy life.

Unknown Speaker 9:16

What does stress feel like to you? Please explain

Unknown Speaker 9:23

I guess it feels tight and heavy and tired. And it makes my backache and my feet
ache and gives me a headache. And I can't perform well. I can't think Well, I can't
get everything done well, and I'm not happy and my family relationships aren't
happy.

Unknown Speaker 9:51

How often do you suffer from flash deal with the stress?

Unknown Speaker 9:58

Well, every week I would say there's at least a day where the stress is quite bad.
And I have to try to get through enough things to be able to breathe again. And
find time for uni and find time for other things and if it's very bad, my husband
helps out but he's working a lot of hours himself.

Unknown Speaker 10:26

How do you cope with your stress? Do you have techniques for coping?

Unknown Speaker 10:31

The main thing I do is talk to my sister. She's very good to me, listens to me. I
speak to my GP And that's that's the main things I do.

Unknown Speaker 10:51

in which format Do you communicate with those sad people.

Unknown Speaker 10:56

Mice sister is lives close to me. So I can often speak to her face to face, and I
can have her over, and she can help with the kids.
Unknown Speaker 11:12
is stress a motivator or driving force? Or is it more a debilitating factor to

Unknown Speaker 11:17

you? I find it more debilitating factor. I just feel overwhelmed too often, and
this doesn't let me achieve what I want to achieve. So it doesn't motivate me it
makes me tired.

Unknown Speaker 11:40

Understandable. How often do you feel that your stress increases past a point of
manageable levels?

Unknown Speaker 11:49

Probably probably about every month. I tend to make an appointment with my GP,
probably every couple of months and that's often because it's just become
unmanageable and that could be partly because of my chronic disease or my back
pain. Or I just can't keep up with uni. Or my husband is fighting with me, or wants
me to do too much. And it just gets too much and I talked to my GP who can
sometimes help with medical certificates and timeout or advice or just listening or
sometimes medication for my chronic disease.

Unknown Speaker 12:46

Already, how often does stress lead to burnout for you?

Unknown Speaker 12:54

I'm not quite sure how to answer that. I suppose. I'm overwhelmed, much more than
I'd like to be. But I don't have much of a choice about this degree. I've just got
to get it finished. My family needs me to work and we need the money from the
degree so that I can work in that field. So I get overwhelmed quite a lot. I'm not
sure if burnout. What isn't proper description. Because to me, burnout suggests
that maybe I want to stop and I just can't stop. I've just got to get there. So
I've just got to keep on this treadmill.

Unknown Speaker 13:45

Last topic is burnout is a intermediate statement. Burnout, more so refers to the
absolute inability to perform certain tasks due to stress reaching, unmanageable
levels where you are physically mentally crippled and unable to fulfill your tasks.
So in the next topic part, the first question will be are you affected by burnout?
And if so, how often?

Unknown Speaker 14:17

Yeah, I guess that's when I'm very badly overwhelmed and can't meet timeframes for
especially for uni. And that might happen a couple of times a year. And I might
need to see my GP and discuss the issues and see what we can do and maybe get
extensions.

Unknown Speaker 14:44

All right. So you touched on it a little bit there. But what does burnout look
slash feel like to you?

Unknown Speaker 14:53

Just having far too much on my plate and deadlines that come too fast and
especially if other things are happening in life with sicknesses and things as well
and it's just too much and I just don't feel I can keep going. It just feels
exhausting.

Unknown Speaker 15:17

So how do you cope with burnout? What are your methods or strategies to help?
Unknown Speaker 15:24
Usually when I'm at this stage, I do make an appointment with my GP because I'm at
my wit's end. My sister is my good support, and my husband is often supportive as
well. But at this stage, I've exhausted those supports and need some extra help or
medication or suggestions. Often it'll come with a certificate for some time out
from work or maybe an extension for uni assignment. Just something to take a little
bit of the pressure off so that I can keep going. Sometimes some good advice about
not orienting much about the housework if possible. And often advice about
exercising but I just never get time to so I never do that one.

Unknown Speaker 16:23

In regards to how you operate throughout the day, how crippling slash debilitating
is bending out to you

Unknown Speaker 16:32

it's very debilitating, because it's just when I hit a brick wall and basically I'm
not functioning properly

Unknown Speaker 16:44

do you think technology plays a role in your burnout? If so, why?

Unknown Speaker 16:50

Do you mean as in causing the burnout?

Unknown Speaker 16:54

It could be for so it could be for or against?

Unknown Speaker 16:59

I guess when I think of technology, I'm thinking about my uni assignments and
studies. And sometimes it's just hard to face that laptop when I'd rather just
crawl into bed. But I don't know if there's any other different way of doing the
university course. So I'm not sure that the technology is completely to blame
there. It certainly plays a role when there's some sort of assignment or something
that I've got to do. And I don't understand how to do it or I don't understand how
to use the technology, or I need to contact the uni through the technology and it
takes me too long to try to figure out how to do that. That all adds to my stress.
And it's just a little bit too difficult to see a person face to face these days.

Unknown Speaker 17:56

Right That leads me pretty much to my next question, which is does University play
a role in your burnout? If so, how much and in what way?

Unknown Speaker 18:06

Just that I have to get this degree so that I can help support my family as well.
Because we can't live off just my husband's wage. So the degree is essential but of
course it's adding a great deal of time pressure and stress to my daily life. And
yeah, that's

Unknown Speaker 18:37

it. And then the same question again. But in what way do your external commitments
play a role in your burnout?

Unknown Speaker 18:51

They're just another part of the overwhelming things particularly if I get sick or
if the kids get sick or if I can't go to work and earn my pay. Or if there's too
much to do at home, and I'm getting too far behind with housework and cooking and
shopping because I'm trying to do my uni or I'm getting too behind with uni because
I'm trying to keep up with all the kids needs and the housework and the cooking and
shopping. So it's all in there together.

Unknown Speaker 19:32

Thank you for your time. I will now stop recording. Thank you for your support.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai