Exploring psychosocial experiences of non-traditional students in a vocational and technical education: a case study of fashion students

The aim of the study was to assess and contrast psychosocial wellbeing of traditional and non-traditional students in fashion programme. The study was necessitated by a lack of evidence on students’ general psychosocial wellbeing, especially the increasing number of non-traditional students who are choosing to pursue higher education for a myriad of reasons. The study utilised a cross-sectional approach in which data were gathered from a sample of 394 traditional and 207 non-traditional students. Data were analysed by means of independent t-test and Pearson correlation. The study found a high prevalence of anxiety–stress and depression among the participants which require attention, even though non-traditional students coped better and performed academically better than traditional students. Again, anxiety–stress and depression were positively related to academic workload such that students who experienced higher academic workloads tended to also experience higher levels of anxiety–stress and depression. © The Textile Institute and Informa UK Ltd 2024.