National College Health Assessment survey reissued to students

The Tufts Department of Health Promotion and Prevention (DHPP) sent the National College Health Assessment (NCHA) survey to randomly selected undergraduates earlier this week.

The survey, designed by the American College Health Association (ACHA), is sent to approximately half the undergraduate population at Tufts every two years to gauge health and wellness needs on campus.

“The survey gives us a good snapshot of the health status of our campus,” Beth Farrow, a health educator and prevention specialist at the DHPP, said.

The survey, which is conducted entirely online and takes approximately 20 minutes for respondents to complete, covers five core issues: alcohol, tobacco and other drug use; sexual health; weight, nutrition and exercise; mental health; and personal safety and violence.

Ian Wong, director of health promotion and prevention, encourages all selected students to complete the survey because the results often translate into new health and wellness programs for students, such as the DHPP’s recent Balance Your Life campaign.

Once the DHPP collects the survey results, they are sent to the ACHA, where specialists create an executive summary of the data and return it to Tufts, Farrow explained. Farrow, Wong and others at the DHPP are then able to compare Tufts students' data to national data from other colleges and universities, as well as to previous years' survey results from Tufts to see which areas of wellness are improving and which need more attention.

“In the past, Tufts’ results have been closely in line with national data,” Farrow said.

Farrow hopes to receive a diverse sampling of students in order to determine which demographics are most affected by various health problems.

“We’re hoping that this year we can do a more in-depth analysis of the multiple years of data we have on this survey,” she said. “For example, we might look at the nutritional data between males and females, between years in school, between races, etc., so we can see if there’s one population that’s doing better or worse. That will tell us more specifically where we need to target our programming efforts.”

While the NCHA writes the survey questions, colleges and universities may add their own questions at the end of the survey, although Tufts usually opts not to. “The survey has been tested for reliability and validity, so I’m pretty confident in the instrument,” Wong said.

Previous survey results have helped the DHPP address health issues on campus such as alcohol consumption. “From past surveys, we found that a lot of students already knew the educational components of the alcohol segment,” Wong said.

This led the Tufts administration to conclude that while students were aware of the dangers of alcohol, this knowledge was not translating into reduced alcohol consumption at social events, Wong said. This information influenced the administration’s decision to change Fall Ball into Fall Gala, and Winter Bash into Winter Ball, creating fancier atmospheres that encouraged dancing and discouraged drinking at these annual events. As a result, alcohol consumption at these events has decreased, he explained.

Balance Your Life, a healthy lifestyle campaign and student organization, emerged from the results of previous NCHA surveys.

Grace Goodwin, a graduate student at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and an intern at the DHPP, works with Balance Your Life and its student members, supporting their efforts to engage students in health issues such as nutrition and physical activity. Most recently, the club held an event called “Girls’ Night at the Gym,” inviting female-identifying students to come to the gym and learn new workout techniques in an inclusive, female-friendly environment.

Goodwin’s experience working with Balance Your Life has led her to conclude that Tufts students face health issues similar to those most young Americans face. “The issues at Tufts are issues that young people on college campuses in general can always work on, like eating fruits and vegetables, eating less processed food, getting enough sleep and getting enough exercise. But from what I can tell Tufts seems like a pretty healthy place,” she said.

The ACHA survey includes a comment section for students who have questions or concerns with the survey or with the DHPP. Selected respondents are not required to answer every question, and the survey results are completely confidential.

Farrow again encouraged all selected students to complete the survey. “It benefits them because we’re going to look at this information very closely to get programs and services that are tailored to the needs of this campus,” she said. “And we’ve put in some really good incentives this year, so hopefully that will help.”