Students today have extremely busy lives with most working full
or part-time jobs. In addition, the demographics of the distance
education population tend to be non-traditional students. These
individuals are generally raising a family at the same time they
are working to achieve their college education. A student that has
a well balanced life, including good health and wellness habits,
will be a more productive student.
"Wellness is the best
mix in each of us, a natural mix of elements that make us unique.
Wellness is a conscious commitment to growth and improvement in
all areas. Only then does the true self emerge."
-Anonymous
Health and wellness
initiatives on college campuses range from access to local clinics
in the community to fully staffed student health clinics on college
campuses. Transforming health and wellness services to the distance
education environment can be considered challenging due to the many
aspects of well being and the limitations that technology brings
to the cause at hand. To accommodate the distance student with comparable
services, institutions will need to transcend from tradition to
technology. According to a survey conducted by the American College
Health Association (ACHA), an organization designed to assist higher
education institutions identify their students' habits, behaviors
and perceptions, the following are the most common concerns for
students in regard to health and wellness issues:
- alcohol, tobacco and drug use
- sexual health
- weight, nutrition, and exercise
- mental health
- injury prevention, personal safety, and violence
The planning process of providing health and wellness services
online to distance students requires research of health resources,
both locally and through the Internet, and a mechanism for marketing
these resources to your distance students. For online health and
wellness services to meet the needs of all distance learners, the
process and procedures must be inclusive and up-to-date, as well
as innovative and creative. Content should be provided in multiple
languages to accommodate the diversity of your student populations.
Personnel Needs
The identification of online health and wellness services should
be provided by experts at your institution. Look at individuals
on your campus that have expertise in the areas of health and wellness,
physical education, nutrition, and counseling. If this expertise
is not available at your institution, you may need to seek resources
from your community.
Procedures
There are a multitude of resources available through local sources
and the Internet that provide useful information on various health
and wellness topics that you can provide to your distance students.
It is very important that you have experts at your institution evaluate
these sources of information for their usefulness and applicability
to your student population. The Western Cooperative for Educational
Communication (WCET) has developed a list of best practices for
Online Student Support services in the area of health and wellness.
These include links to resources on and off campus including health
clinics and hotlines, student health insurance plans, peer support,
leisure/recreational activities, wellness issues, and protocols
for mental health and other crisis'. The Internet has a wealth of
online surveys and health assessments that can be provided as information
to your students for self-evaluation of health and wellness issues.
Technology
Various forms of technology can be utilized to deliver health
and wellness services to your distance students. In addition to
the resources available on the Internet, you can link to pamphlets,
videos and podcasts on specific health and wellness topics. These
can be created at your institution by local health and wellness
experts, or they can be purchased from the traditional sources.
Resources
The first point of contact for health and wellness services for
distance students should be the individual in charge of these services
at your institution. The contact information should include the
name, phone number and email address. An institution should consider
an 800 number for distance students.
There are six general categories of health and wellness that are
normally addressed on a college campus. These categories are general
health and wellness, addiction and substance abuse, sexual health,
diet and nutrition, mental health, and safety and violence. To address
these areas in the online environment, there are numerous web sites
that host valuable information for each of these areas.
The web sites below provide an abundance of information to use
as a source and guide for creating a Wellness site for your distance
students.
General Health and Wellness
http://www.wellnessjunction.com/
http://www.healthy.net/
http://students.ubc.ca/health/guide.cfm
http://students.ubc.ca/health/guide.cfm?page=test
Alcohol/Tobacco/Drug Use
Alcohol, tobacco and drug use is apparent on most college campuses.
These habits and addictions could also affect your distance students.
The links below provide information on common addictions and abuse
such as alcohol consumption, tobacco and drug use. These sites include
links for students to self assess themselves in these areas.
http://healthyhorns.utexas.edu/
http://health.rutgers.edu/discussions/alcohol/
http://www.uhs.uga.edu/
http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/?Media=PlayFlash
http://www.nida.nih.gov/
http://www.na.org/index.htm
Sexual Health
Sexual health is a growing concern for college students. Distance
students need access to information that helps them to make responsible,
healthy decisions about their sexual behavior.
http://health.rutgers.edu/discussions/sex/
http://www.uhs.uga.edu/sexualhealth/index.html
http://www.uhs.umich.edu/wellness/sxh/resources.html
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~wellness/
Weight, Nutrition and Exercise
Healthy living and good nutrition are major components of a happy
and successful college experience. Below are links to sites that
can help provide distance students information on how to stay happy
and healthy while in school.
http://health.rutgers.edu/discussions/nutrition/
http://www.uhs.uga.edu/nutrition/index.html
http://www.anred.com/
http://www.edreferral.com/
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200000
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/index.html
http://www.gannett.cornell.edu/top10Topics/nutrition-eating/hotTopics/freshman15.html
Mental Health/Stress
As students are preparing to start or return to college, they may
experience stress and be overwhelmed with all they have to do. Depression,
substance use and eating disorders are increasingly common mental
health issues on college campuses.
HealthyMinds.org states that surveys show that nearly half of all
college students report feeling so depressed that they had trouble
functioning, and 15 percent meet the criteria for clinical depression.
Untreated depression can lead to suicide, which is the second leading
cause of death of college students. It is important for college-age
students to seek care so they can have a healthy mind and lead a
healthy life (healthyminds.org).
http://health.rutgers.edu/discussions/stress/
http://www.healthyminds.org/collegementalhealth.cfm
http://www.optimalhealthconcepts.com/Stress
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/students.cfm
http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/student-life/health-and-wellness/index.html
Injury Prevention/Personal Safety/Violence
Since distance students will not be located on the traditional
college campus, information on the prevention of injuries, personal
safety and violence will be in the context of general information
and access to services that can provide help and support. The purpose
of this information is to facilitate prevention of and response
to injury, safety and violence.
http://toolkit.ncjrs.org/
http://www.collegesafe.com/
http://www.uhs.uga.edu/sexualhealth/rsvp/sv_and_you.html
http://www.rapecrisis.com/
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/svfacts.htm
Best Practices
The concept of online support services for health and wellness
of college students is in its infancy. Many colleges and universities
have content on their web sites for the traditional student that
can be adapted and targeted to the online student. The web site
addresses below provide useful models for establishing a health
and wellness site for your distance students. The institutions have
accumulated excellent resources and have been proactive in providing
this service to their students.
Columbia University
http://www.health.columbia.edu/index.html
University of Rochester
http://www.rochester.edu/uhs/healthtopics/index.html
University of Georgia
http://www.uhs.uga.edu
University of Ohio
http://www.swc.osu.edu
University of Minnesota
http://www.bhs.umn.edu/programs/assessments.htm
University of North Texas
http://www.healthcenter.unt.edu/
Conclusion
The decision to put health and wellness services online for distance
students is a challenging endeavor for an institution. Health and
wellness services are important to the health of our students. Though
providing these services online will be challenging, they are an
integral component to student support services.
The delivery of health and wellness services online is new to most
institutions. The resources that have been provided in this monograph
will provide a good foundation for developing online health and
wellness services for your students. Students today have extremely
busy lives. A student that has a well balanced life, including good
health and wellness habits, will be a more productive student.
References
HealthyMind.org - http://www.healthyminds.org/collegementalhealth.cfm
American College Health Association (ACHA) -http://www.acha.org/
WCET- the Cooperative advancing the effective use of technology
in higher education http://www.wcet.info/services/studentservices/beyond/
