Health and Wellness

Strategic Priority Taskforce

Final RecommendationsOctober 2006

Membership Chairs: Mary Visser & Christine Connolly

Jennifer Myers, Campus Rec.

Caryn Lindsay, ISO

Jason Djuren, Student

Sue Fredstrom, IFO

Lindsay Gullingsrud, Women’s Ctr.

Jennifer Guyer-Wood, MSUAASF

Kaye Herth, Dean

Carol Jensen, MMA

Penny Knoblich, IFO

Tammy Kunze, AFSCME

Lori Lamb, Human Resources

Pehn Van Lo. Multicultural Services

Judith Luebke, IFO

Mark McCollough, IFO

Rob McGinn, MAPE,

Therese Mullins, Wellness Committee

Jeff Pribyl, IFO

Nancy Rolfsrud, Counseling Center

Toya Schmidtke, MNA

Wendy Schuh, Alcohol Working Group

Gary Urban, MAPE

Background of the task force

Formed in fall 2005 as one of the President’s Strategic Initiatives.

The group met for the first time in January 2006 Agreed upon a definition of wellness to be used Decided to split into subgroups to gather

information in 4 areas deemed crucial for making informed recommendations

Four Primary Areas for Investigation Health and Wellness of Students

2004 ACHA and NCHA data

Health Costs for the University Fall 2005 insurance surveys taken by state employees DOER data Worker’s Compensation information for past 3 years Sick leave use for past 2-3 years

Existing Health and Wellness Resources on Campus Survey of program directors, department chairs

Wellness needs and interests of faculty, staff administrators Survey of faculty, staff, and administrators

Group 1

Charge

Analyze the American College Health Association (ACHA) National College Health Assessment (NCHA) data for Minnesota State Mankato Mankato and compare it to the ACHA-NCHA national data (2004).

Demographics of Students

Male 38% /Female 49%

Average Age 21.5 years

Ethnic Origin 87% Caucasian 2.8% Asian/Pacific Island 2.0% African American 1.4% Latino 0.9% American Indian 1.4% Other 4.5% unknown

Summary Findings – Group 1 (Students)

The most commonly reported health problems by students at Minnesota State Mankato are:

Back pain

Allergies

Sinus infections

Depression

 

Summary Findings Group 1 (Students)

The major factors impacting academic performance are:

Stress

Sleep difficulties

Cold/flu/sore throats

Relationship difficulties

Alcohol use

Summary Findings Group 1 (Students)

Areas where Minnesota State Mankato patterns of behavior are worse than the national average:

Alcohol use

Depression/anxiety

Findings/Recommendations (Students)

Back Pain and Exercise

Back Pain was seen more commonly in individuals who exercise vigorously and / or strength trained 3.3 days or more per week.

Recommendation

Offer education on lifting and strength training to avoid injury.

Findings/Recommendations (Students)

Sleep Difficulties

There is a statistically significant relationship between sleep difficulties and decreased academic performance.

Recommendation:

Identify evidence based programs to impact sleep issues.

Findings/Recommendations (Students)

Computer Games

As time online with computer games increased academic performance decreased.

Next step: Determine if there is a relationship between sleep difficulties and online computer games.

Recommendation:

Add questions to the NCHA survey tool to explore online computer gaming.

Findings/Recommendations (Students)

Alcohol Use/Abuse

Students involved in physical fights are more likely to have used alcohol than others.

Student who always keep track of alcohol they consume, drink significantly less than those who don’t.

There is a strong correlation between number of drinks consumed and academic impact, lower grades, more classes missed, etc.

Findings/Recommendations (Students)

Recommendations:

Provide evidence based alcohol initiatives that have the potential to impact drinking behaviors.

Provide campus and community leadership regarding alcohol issues and provide consistent messages.

Continue the work of the Alcohol Working Group on campus to complete a long term strategic plan.

Provide base funding for alcohol initiatives.

Investigate the benefits of adding a credit course on alcohol to the curriculum for all freshmen.

Findings/Recommendations (Students)

Emotional abuse

Students in an emotionally abusive relationship in the last two years are more likely to consider attempting suicide than those not in an emotionally abusive relationship.

Recommendation:

Provide additional professional staff to address issues of abuse.

Maintain summer counseling hours and a sexual violence education coordinator position.

Findings/Recommendations (Students)

Depression

Students diagnosed with depression are more likely to attempt suicide (most prevalent in females).

Recommendation:

Offer increase counseling services for students with depression.

Continue to provide psychiatric consult services.

Group 2: Health Costs to the University

Charge

Gather and analyze existing data on health and wellness of Minnesota State University, Mankato employees to establish a baseline estimate of yearly costs to the institution.

Summary Findings Group 2

Risk factors contributing to illness lost time at work and health care costs as reported by major insurance carrier survey are:

PreferredOne:

Nutrition, body weight, physical inactivity, cancer.

BCBS:

Nutrition, body weight, stress, physical inactivity Most costly risk factors: cardiovascular disease, weight,

depression, stress

HealthPartners:

Nutrition, physical inactivity, body weight.

Recommendations

Baseline data for sick leave needs to be systematically collected and analyzed in a way that categorizes personal sickness vs. family illness.

Workers compensation data needs to be analyzed in a way that 1-2 large claims a year do not skew true cost/injury.

Data collected need to separate unavoidable injury from preventable injury – since preventable injury can be decreased to drive costs down.

Wellness initiatives on campus should link with DOER to provide programming to address “lifestyle diseases” (nutrition, weight, stress, physical activity) as these are top risk factors for employees.

Group 3 - Needs/Interests of Faculty /Staff

Charge

To gather and perform preliminary analyses of faculty, staff, and administrators expressed needs and interests related to health and wellness programs and initiatives.

Summary Findings Group 3

Web-based delivery was generally preferred for most health-related information with particular exceptions noted below: Male respondents tended to prefer web-based information

over other ways to receive information. Female respondents were more likely to indicate a

willingness to participate in a seminar or class. Respondents between 45 and 55 years of age were more

likely to be interested in a seminar/class than other respondents.

IFO members were more likely to prefer web-based delivery than to participate in a seminar or class.

AFSCME members were more interested in participating in seminars or classes as compared to other bargaining units.

Findings/ Recommendations

Health education information with a focus on nutrition, fitness, workplace ergonomics, personal safety, managing health conditions/disease prevention, immunization and screening for common conditions, and stress and financial management were of interest to the total sample.

Health education issues related to parenting and eating disorders were of less interest to the total sample.

Findings/Recommendations

Employees were interested in physical activities being offered on campus and many said they would participate if programs were offered in specific areas such as resistance training.

The primary immunization employees were interested obtaining on campus were flu shots.

Screenings employees indicated an interest in obtaining on campus included:Cholesterol(78%) Skin Cancer (63%)

Blood Pressure(70%) Osteoporosis (62%)

Body Composition assessment (66%) Vision (58%)

Hearing (65%) Blood Sugar/diabetes (57%)

Diet Analysis (65%)

Findings/Recommendations

Health Behavior programs staff would like to see offered included: weight management, stress management, smoking cessation and time management.

Preferred time for program offerings was during lunch.

Employees indicated that they would be willing to support the cost of activity programs, screenings, and availability of immunizations

Group 4 - Existing Services and Programs

Charge

To compile a list of existing programs and campus offerings related to health and wellness. From this list of offerings, identify gaps and overlaps that might exist in programs and services.

Summary Findings Group 4

There are many services available on campus in the area of health and wellness for both students and staff but there are also gaps that exist.

Findings/Recommendations (Students)

Physical Health

Students are negatively impacted academically by physical health issues.

Allergies, colds, flu, sore throats are the major illnesses keeping students out of class, missing exams or performing poorly on exams.

Recommendation

Provide education that addresses health/wellness as a developmental issue.

Findings/Recommendations (Students)

Nutrition

Several factors have contributed to the increased needs for nutrition assistance in colleges. Diseases seen in 40-50 year old of the past are now seen in 20-30 yr olds.

Recommendations

Link nutrition services with changing students needs.

Minnesota State Mankato should address cost issues related to healthy nutrition choices when dining on campus.

Findings/Recommendations (Students)

Health Education

A campus needs assessment is conducted bi-annually using the National College Health Assessment (ACHA, 2004) Survey tool. This tool examined health indicators and academic impacts.

Recommendation:

Align health education initiatives with programs that demonstrate impact on academic performance.

Findings/Recommendations (Student)

Intellectual Health

Academic coursework is taught in the area of health and wellness through many departments and through many programs.

Recommendations

Share NCHA data across campus.

Evaluate all campus health/ wellness initiatives.

Findings/Recommendations (Student)

Alcohol Use

Alcohol use is a major contributing factor to illness, poor academic performance, violence and vandalism on and around college campuses.

Recommendations

Continue to build campus and community relationships that support evidence based programming in the area of alcohol prevention.

Findings/Recommendations (Student)

Mental Health

There is a direct correlation between mental health wellness and academic performance.

Recommendation:

Assess the best way to maximize availability of counseling hours for students.

Continue to offer psychiatric treatment, consultation and emergency on-call treatment for students.

Findings/Recommendations (Students)

Projects and Campus Programs

Service projects and campus programs provide a value to the campus and the community. Students seek colleges not just for academics but for opportunities to connect with the campus and community.

Recommendation

Continue offering programs and services that can demonstrate a direct impact on retention, connectedness and academic success.

Recommendations (Faculty/Staff and Students)

Spiritual Health Recommendations

Determine availability of offerings like NA, AA and Al-Anon to the campus community.

Compile additional information about types of offerings that would be beneficial

Assess the needs of employees regarding spiritual programming and services.

Environmental Health Recommendation:

Provide more education in the areas of environmental health and workplace safety.

Recommendations (Faculty/Staff)

Occupational Health Recommendation

Provide services to assist employees in their career and professional development needs. Provide opportunities for all campus employees to attend programs and conferences.

Emotional Health Recommendation

Administer an assessment to determine if faculty and staff feel that the campus environment is supportive of mental and emotional health issues.

Recommendations (Faculty/Staff)

Physical Health Recommendation:

Assess the wants and needs for additional programming as well as effectiveness and numbers of employees served.

Intellectual Health Recommendation:

Developed a procedure for allowing all employees to access funding for conferences and continuing education.

Summary Recommendations

Utilize the task force web site as a source of data gathering, information sharing, and evidence based programming.

Provide a campus consortium on health and wellness to carry out the recommendations of this task force.

Expand the definition of wellness to include financial wellness.

Identify resources to educate both students and employees on overall personal wellness to help with retention, performance effectiveness, and costs.

Initiate final step to eliminate smoking from all buildings and entranceways.