Update on the ACHA National College Health

AssessmentUsing the ACHA-NCHA to Examine the Health

Status and Health Needs of Your StudentsAn ACHA Professional Development Workshop

November 30 – December 2, 2006

Las Vegas

Pat Ketcham, PhD, CHES, Oregon State University

Mary Hoban, PhD, CHES, American College Health Association

Objectives

1. Describe the development of the ACHA-NCHA

2. Identify trends in alcohol and other drug use, sexual behaviors, and depression from the Spring 2005 Reference Group.

3. List three ways campuses are using ACHA-NCHA data.

What is the ACHA-NCHA?

• A national, non-profit, research effort that:– Assesses college health factors that impact

academic performance, retention, and campus life

– Assists campus professionals in collecting data about the health of their students

• Health service providers• Health Educators• Counselors• Administrators

What is the ACHA-NCHA?

• The ACHA-NCHA is a comprehensive college health questionnaire that provides important data about a wide variety of college health topics

• These data can be used to:– Plan programs– Prioritize campus needs– Allocate resources– Design strategies for intervention– Identify protective and risk factors associated with academic

performance– Measure progress on National Health Objectives

What is the ACHA-NCHA?

• 13 waves of the survey successfully conducted since Spring 2000

• More than 355,000 students from 546 campuses have participated

• An ever growing and An ever growing and increasingly rich picture of increasingly rich picture of college student health!college student health!

Historical Outline

May 1997- ACHA Annual Meeting in New Orleans

January 1998 – First Work Group Meeting: 25 volunteers meet in Chicago

Spring 1998 Pilot – 10 IHE’s; n=2,007

December 1998 – Third Work Group Meeting in Chicago

Spring 1999 Pilot – 11 IHE’s; n=3,649

Relationship with the Core Institute Began with Spring 2000 survey

January 2000 – NCHA Advisory Committee appointed by ACHA– Haines and Haubenriser are co-chairs!

November 2000 – NCHA Advisory Meets in Baltimore

Spring 2003 – All NCHA operations move from the Core Institute to ACHA– ACHA-NCHA web-assessment introduced

June 2003 – Ketcham and Orr co-chairs of ACHA-NCHA Advisory Committee

May 2005 – Spring 2003 Reference Group results published in JACH

June 2005 – Ketcham and Mallinson co-chairs of ACHA-NCHA Advisory Committee

December 2005 – ACHA-NCHA Professional Development Workshop and Subcommittee Meeting on Survey Revisions

January 2006 – Spring 2004 Reference Group results published in JACH

July 2006 – Spring 2005 Reference Group results published in JACH

Nov/Dec 2006 – ACHA-NCHA Professional Development Workshop in Las Vegas

January 2007 – Spring 2006 Reference Group results to be published in JACH, and annually thereafter

Spring 2007 – Pilot testing of revised ACHA-NCHA

Fall 2007 – Revised ACHA-NCHA ready for implementation

ACHA-NCHA Participation to Date

  Schools Sample (n)

Spring 2000     28    16,024

Fall 2000     20    10,413

Spring 2001     31    16,813

Fall 2001       8      4,717

Spring 2002     44    28,258

Fall 2002     20    10,374

Spring 2003     33    19,497

Fall 2003     21    11,990

Spring 2004     74    47,202

Fall 2004     50    24,804

Spring 2005 71 54,111

Fall 2005 29 16,832

Spring 2006 117 94,806

TOTAL   546 355,841

The Instrument

• Health, health education, and safety

• Alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use

• Sexual behaviors• Weight, nutrition, and

exercise• Mental and physical

health• Impediments to academic

performance• Demographics

• Health status and health problems

• Risk behaviors• Protective behaviors• Access to health

information• Perceived norms

Reliability & Validity Analyses

Results are consistent with other nationally Results are consistent with other nationally generalizable data sets:generalizable data sets:

• National College Health Risk Behavior Survey National College Health Risk Behavior Survey CDC 1995CDC 1995

• Harvard School of Public Health 1999 College Harvard School of Public Health 1999 College Alcohol StudyAlcohol Study

• United States Department of Justice: The United States Department of Justice: The National College Women Sexual Victimization National College Women Sexual Victimization Study 2000 (NCWSV)Study 2000 (NCWSV)

• National Institute of Mental Health 2001National Institute of Mental Health 2001

Reliability and Validity Analyses

• Reliability– Cronbach’s alpha scores for inter-item reliability

fall within the acceptable range of 0.4-0.9• Construct Validity

– Measures related to other variables as expected• Measurement Validity

– ACHA-NCHA found to have strong measurement validity

• Sensitive Indicators– ACHA-NCHA found to have comparable rates of

sensitive item prevalence as other surveys

ACHA Tools for Program Planning and Evaluation

Health-related impediments to academic performance

Spring 2005

N = 54,111

Health-related impediments to academic performance

Spring 2005

N = 54,111

Spring 2000

N = 16,024

5 or more drinks at a sitting during the last 2 weeks

Spring 2005

N = 54,111

5 or more drinks at a sitting during the last 2 weeks

Spring 2005

N = 54,111

Spring 2000

N = 16,024

Estimated BAC

Estimated BAC

Spring 2000N = 16,024

Estimated Blood AlcoholConcentration

Males Females Total

<.08 65% 64% 64%

<.10 72% 71% 72%

Spring 2005N= 54,111

Estimated Blood Alcohol Concentration

Males Females Total

<.08 64% 63% 64%

<.10 71% 71% 71%

Sexual Partners

Spring 2005

N = 54,111

Sexual Partners

Spring 2005

N = 54,111

Spring 2000

N = 16,024

So Depressed Difficult to Function

Spring 2005

N = 54,111

So Depressed Difficult to Function

Spring 2000

N = 16,024Spring 2005

N = 54,111

Seriously Considered Suicide

Spring 2005

N = 54,111

Seriously Considered Suicide

Spring 2005

N = 54,111Spring 2000

N = 16,024

Diagnosed with Depression

Spring 2005 (N=54,111)

College students ever diagnosed with depression

16%

Of this 16%:

Dx in the last school year

36%

Currently in therapy 28%

Currently taking medication

37%

Diagnosed with Depression

Spring 2005 (N=54,111)

College students ever diagnosed w/ depression

16%

Of this 10%:

Dx in the last school year

36%

Currently in therapy

28%

Currently taking medication

37%

Spring 2000 (N=16,024)

College students ever diagnosed w/ depression

10%

Of this 10%:

Dx in the last school year

23%

Currently in therapy

17%

Currently taking medication

21%

Self Described Weight and BMI

Spring 2005

N = 54,111

How are campuses using ACHA-NCHA data?

• Develop and evaluate programs

• Allocate/advocate for resources

• Identify campus populations at increased risk

• Identify staff training needs

How are campuses using ACHA-NCHA data?

• Gather normative data for social norms marketing efforts

• Consortium participation

• Longitudinal research efforts

• Measure progress on HC2010 objectives

Healthy Campus 2010

HC2010 Objective 2000 Baseline

2010 Target

Spring 2005

Progress

1-1. Increase the proportion of college students with health insurance

83.3% 100% 88.5%

3-9a. Increase the proportion of college students who use sunscreen daily

14.7% 23.9% 18.2%

3-11c. Increase the proportion of college women who received a routine GYN exam in the LSY

63.1% 83.2% 63.0%

For more information

• Mary Hoban, PhD, Director, ACHA-NCHA Program Office mhoban@acha.org, (410) 859-1500 x216

• Victor Leino, PhD, Research Director, ACHA evl@acha.org, (410) 859-1500 x239

• Pat Ketcham, PhD, ACHA-NCHA Advisory Committee Chair, Oregon State University, pat.ketcham@oregonstate.edu, (541) 737-7553