This week is National Health Education Week!

Yay!

Next week is National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week!

Yay! Yay!

So, we have a lot to celebrate!

Sustainability of the PersonHealth Promotion Resources for Students

at Emory University Student Health and Counseling Services

Campus Life Administrative Staff MeetingOctober 15, 2008

Heather Zesiger, MPH, CHES

What Sustains Us?

• What makes us feel good?• What skills and strategies help us succeed in

our studies/work/relationships?

Overview of Presentation

• Putting health promotion in context• What we offer• Who we are• How to reach us

***• A glimpse at the tools we use to do our work

– Clinical tools– Health promotion tools– A Public Health Approach and the Social Ecological Model

• Q & A

Collaborative Practice to Benefit Students

Health Services

Health Promotion

Counseling Center

Emory Student Health and Counseling Services =

What is health?

• Health is the capacity of individuals and communities to reach their potential. It is not solely a biomedical quality measured through clinical indicators. Health transcends individual factors and includes cultural, institutional, socioeconomic and political influences.

– Adapted from the Standards of Practice for Health Promotion in Higher Education, ACHA

Health Education

“Any combination of planned learning experiences based on sound theories that provide individuals, groups, and communities the opportunity to acquire information and the skills needed to make quality health decisions.”

-Green, LW & Kreuter, MW (1999)

Health Promotion

“Any planned combination of educational, political, environmental, regulatory, or organizational mechanisms that support actions and conditions of living conducive to the health of individuals, groups and communities.”

- Green, LW & Kreuter, MW (1999)

Health Enhancing Skills for Student Success

• Nutrition for sustained energy, concentration• Assertive communication• Healthful coping strategies• Restful sleep• Lower-risk, if any, use of alcohol• Smoking cessation tools• Relationships built on mutual respect

Our Mission

Health Education and Promotion at EUSHCS contributes to success in and out of the classroom by encouraging students to take responsibility for their lifelong wellness.

Using strategies that are student-oriented, evidence-based, and dynamic, we challenge students to develop beliefs and habits that advance personal and community health.

Our Staff• Heather Zesiger, MPH, CHES, Director• Alyssa Lederer, MPH, CHES, Health Educator• Virginia Plummer, LCSW, Coordinator of Alcohol and Other

Drug Prevention Education• Willie Bannister, LPC, Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention

Counselor• Carol Kelly, RD, LD, Coordinator of Nutrition Education• Shirley Banks, BS, Certified Sexuality Counselor and Health

Educator• Aline Jesus Rafi, MA, Coordinator of Sexual Assault

Prevention Education and Response• Dan Hootman, BBA, RHD Fellow• Lex Gilbert, Administrative Assistant – NEW! Welcome!

Our Services for Individuals and Couples

• Nutrition Education and Counseling; • Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Prevention,

Risk-Reduction, Education and Counseling; • Sexual & Reproductive Health Education and

Counseling;• Consultations in Sleep, Stress Management,

and General Wellness;• Sexual Assault Prevention Education and

Response

Our Services for Student Groups and Population-Based Health Promotion

• Customized skill-building presentations for athletes, sororities, fraternities, residence halls student organizations, and guest lectures

• National College Health Assessment• Risk-reduction classes, AlcoholEdu ,and eCHUG , in collaboration

with Campus Life and the Office of Student Conduct• Collaborative efforts to engage student leaders and strengthen

health-enhancing policies: committees, task forces, President’s Commissions, advising student groups, etc.

• Meditation stations – coming soon!• Curriculum infusion• Safer sex supplies, brochures• Passive education: bulletin boards, Stall Street Journals, fliers

Referrals

• Students find us through the website, via guest lectures and student group presentations; through fliers; by referrals from coaches, RAs, friends, chapter members, conduct officers, etc.

• Feel free to refer students to us via phone, email or web

• We are happy to offer departmental in-services and consultations for staff and faculty

Who You Gonna Call?

• Appointment line: 404-727-7551• Heather’s direct line: 404-727-1736• Lex Gilbert, our administrative assistant:

404-727-1697• Online: studenthealth.emory.edu• Facebook: Emory University Student Health

and Counseling Services fan page – be our fan!

Our (Clinical) Tools

• Input from referral source (you!)• Student self-assessment• Clinician/counselor assessment• Skill-building, values clarification, motivational

interviewing, education• Behavioral plan• Follow-up

Our (Health Promotion) Tools

• Public Health Approach– Assist individuals and promote the health of an entire

community– Ecological model for health promotion: consider social and

environmental effects on individuals’ health behaviors• Evidence-based practice

– Assess students’ needs to prioritize areas for intervention– Review journals for effective interventions– Adapt interventions for specific audience– Plan, implement, evaluate intervention– Document outcomes– Example: mini-courses

Mini-Courses 2008-2009Stress Reduction for the Busy StudentThis mini-course employs discussion of the stress equation, "perceived demands exceed perceived resources". Students will explore strategies to decrease negative thinking and to increase resources and perception of their own strengths, thus helping to reduce stress.  Relaxation techniques and a creative Wellness Self-Assessment exercise will be utilized to further encourage use of personal coping mechanisms, increase sense of control, improve academic performance, and enhance overall quality and enjoyableness of life.  The mini-course is held in two ninety-minute sessions, one week apart.Eat Well/Think WellEat Well/Think Well is an evidence-based program to help students improve food choices as well as study skills. The course explores why and how some foods may affect energy and clarity of thought, which in turn can affect time management, study skills, and learning. Students will have opportunities to create helpful study habits, develop productive coping strategies, and prepare their own “smart snacks” and easy “smart meals”. Students will meet once weekly for two weeks. Each session is ninety minutes, and includes experiential exercises such as food preparation and time management activities.Party WellThis mini-course explores the party scene on campus. We appreciate people’s need to be together having fun, and we recognize that parties can contribute to individual development. In this class we will explore ways to reduce risk of problems that students sometimes face on the party scene. Students will meet once weekly for three weeks. Each session will be ninety minutes.Healthy RelationshipsThis mini-course explores different kinds of healthy relationships and social expectations on campus in order to prepare students to make positive and safer choices regarding interpersonal relationships, including dating, friendship, working, and sexual relationships. Students will meet once weekly for three weeks. Each session will be ninety minutes.I ♥ My VaginaIn this women-only course, we will not only learn about things that are left out of sex education classes, we will connect up-to-date scientific information with our own values to develop a new way of living in the body as a sexual person. Because we will focus on issues pertaining to the woman herself, not her capacity as a sexual partner (though partnering is a legitimate matter for discussion), the material covered in this class applies to all women who want to learn more about all aspects of sexuality throughout life. Each person’s perspective and privacy will be valued as we learn from each other. There will be three sessions of two hours each.SleepWellSleepWell is an evidence-based program to help students enhance their sleep habits for greater personal and academic success. The mini-course will meet once a week for ninety minutes over three consecutive weeks. Students are encouraged to sign-up with a friend or roommate so that they might reinforce sleep-enhancing behaviors in each other.

The Public Health Approach• What we do as a society to insure that conditions

exist in which people can be healthy • Focus is on prevention through health promotion• Concerned with the health of the population (the

community rather than individuals)• Employs data driven/evidence-based approaches• Uses comprehensive, multi-level approaches• Relies on partnerships

Special thanks to Kathleen C. Basile, Ph.D., from the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention

The Public Health Approach

Define the

Problem

Develop & Test

Prevention

Strategies

Assure

Widespread

Adoption

Identify Risk &

Protective Factors

Special thanks to Kathleen C. Basile, Ph.D., from the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention

Defining the Problem: Impediments to Academic Performance

• Stress• Sleep difficulties• Cold/flu/sore throat• Concern for friend or

family member• Depression/Anxiety• Relationship difficulty• Internet use/computer

games

• Sinus infection/ear infection/bronchitis/ strep throat

• Death of a friend or family member

• ADD/ADHD• Allergies• Alcohol use

2006 National College Health Assessment, Emory respondents: n=1,293; 75% female

The Social Ecological Model

“It is unreasonable to expect that people will change their behavior easily when so many forces in the social, cultural, and physical environment conspire against such change.”

-Institute of Medicine Report on Health Promotion

The Social Ecological Model:

Societal Community Relationship Individual

Defining each level

Societal Community Relationship Individual

Characteristics of the individual (biological,

personal history, attitudinal factors )

Proximal social relationships

(peers, partners, family members)

Community contexts in which social relationships are

embedded(neighborhood, campus, etc.)

Larger societal factors (norms, policies, laws, etc.)

Prevention: WHEN do we intervene?

Before health- compromising behavior has

occurred

Primary

Immediate response to need (clinical visit, risk-reduction class)

Long-term response; follow-up

visits

Secondary Tertiary

Special thanks to Kathleen C. Basile, Ph.D., from the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention