Survey stresses health
Wellness Centre adjusts vision in accordance with new study
January 23, 2008
by Lauren Thompson
Left: Nurse Regehr works with PWA [Photo: Austin Jean]
Last spring, a randomly selected group of 1,500 students at Trinity Western University were asked to get personal with the Wellness Centre. Students were asked questions about alcohol, sexual activity, stress and mental health in addition to inquiries about nutrition, exercise and general wellness.
The results were a part of the National College Health Assessment, a predominantly American survey that tracks health trends among university students.
Though the TWU survey results were calculated last semester, the Wellness Centre has chosen not to release them to the TWU community yet, said campus nurse Michelle Regehr.
“It’s a sensitive survey in nature,” she said. “We want to be intentional about how we release the data.”
This intentionality means the numbers will be thoroughly analyzed before they are released to the public, so that the data may be useful to the TWU community, explained Regehr. “Some [other schools] don’t even release their information. Our intent is to use it and share it, and have it drive our programming.”
As the amount of data collected is massive, the Wellness Centre has chosen to focus its study on specific areas. “We want to ask, what are our needs, our resources? What are the needs of our students?” said Regehr.
Regehr said the first area will be academic wellness – the health factors that affect university performance, such as stress and mild illness. Stress topped the list of academic hindrances in both national and TWU surveys.
In order to implement the findings in the survey, the Wellness Centre plans to reinvent the position of Peer Wellness Assistant (PWA), expanding the leadership role from two to six students, and making it interdisciplinary. The position was formerly exclusive for Nursing students.
Fourth-year Nursing student Shawna Schroeder became a PWA because it gave her “opportunities to reach out to the whole self in health, wellness and exercise.” But, she feels like the changes are a good idea.
“With just two people you can’t do a lot,” she said. “There’s not enough man-power.”
The revamped position is slotted to include students from disciplines including psychology and human kinetics, and even have a student devoted to International student health, she said. For the new team, the goal will be to serve as many students as possible.
Regehr sees this initial survey as a “starting point,” and hopes to conduct another one in the Spring of 2009. This way, explained Regehr, the Wellness Centre can begin studying long-term trends in wellness, and gain an idea of the changing needs of students.
Regehr summed up the Wellness Centre’s reinvigorated philosophy for students simply: “We have a new message: It’s all about you.”
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