First Embarkation among Bridge and Engine Cadets: A Preliminary Empirical Study on Psychological Well-Being, Adaptation, and Risk Factors in Maritime Education

Abstract

Based on the 30 raw responses from an original survey administered to students on the Bridge and Machinery course at the University of La Laguna, this study presents a detailed descriptive analysis of psychological well-being, initial adaptation, working and rest conditions, and perceptions of social and institutional support during the first sea voyage. An indicator of subjective well-being adapted from the WHO-5 (Topp, Østergaard, Søndergaard and Bech, 2015) was recalculated directly from the microdata, yielding a mean score of 40.4 out of 100 (median = 40; n=30), with 66.7 per cent of the sample at or below the reference threshold of 50 points. Forty per cent of the students reported a negative impact of the deployment on their mental health, a finding cross-validated by the well-being indicator itself (an average of 27.6 points amongst those reporting a negative impact, compared with 50.9 amongst those reporting a positive impact). The thematic analysis of the open-ended responses — coded directly by the author based on the 28–29 real-life testimonies collected — identifies family and social isolation, inappropriate treatment by superiors, and work overload with insufficient rest as the three most frequently cited difficulties. These results are discussed in the light of 36 verified scientific sources on maritime mental health, organisational psychology and research methodology.