by James A. Baumann
Asking one person how they are doing is a polite conversation starter. Asking a few hundred or more individuals that question will identify trends. But asking a group of people how they are doing and then digging in to discover what could make things better can lead to holistic improvements. That is exactly what more campuses are doing as they assess not only the well-being of their students and staff, but also the different programs, resources, and efforts that should support it.
From the beginning, campus housing programs have been entrusted with the health and safety of their student residents. The challenges to that goal have changed over the years, but campuses also have gained a greater understanding of its importance beyond just life and limb. Study after study shows that factors like getting enough sleep, eating nutritious meals, feeling a sense of belonging, and interacting with a variety of individuals positively affect performance outcomes. Still, questions exist about how to best improve those well-being metrics. Bridget Yuhas, the executive director of the Institute for Well-being at Butler University, explains, “Basically, as student well-being increases, so do positive outcomes that benefit both students individually and the institution overall. Things like grade point average, retention, sense of connection, sense of belonging, engagement, and mental health all increase when student well-being increases. However, without knowing where students need the most support, trying to increase well-being is like throwing a dart without a board to aim at. That's where assessment comes into play.”
If this sounds like an overly simplistic statement, consider that measuring well-being remains an emerging practice. In fact, as the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes on its website, “There is no consensus around a single definition of well-being, but there is general agreement that at minimum, well-being includes the presence of positive emotions and moods (e.g., contentment, happiness), the absence of negative emotions (e.g., depression, anxiety), satisfaction with life, fulfillment and positive functioning. In simple terms, well-being can be described as judging life positively and feeling good.” A landmark moment in applying these considerations in a higher education context was the creation of the Okanagan Charter. The document, which came out of the 2015 International Conference on Health Promoting Universities and Colleges in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, stressed the need for campuses to foster larger social and environmental changes by embedding health into campus administration, operations, and academic mandates. A few years later, the Health and Well-being in Higher Education report (originally drafted by NASPA and NIRSA and since adopted by several other student affairs associations, including ACUHO-I) declared that student well-being was something each part of the institution was responsible for fostering. This collective also offered a straightforward definition of well-being as “an optimal and dynamic state that allows people to achieve their full potential.” At about the same time, the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education promoted a cross-functional framework to advance health and well-being that outlined “health, well-being, flourishing, and thriving of college students in the context of a healthy community.” Even before COVID-19 swept across the world, well-being was front-of-mind for campuses.
At Butler University, the student well-being program has the catchy moniker “BU | Be Well.” It is a cohesive program with initiatives addressing eight dimensions (mind and body, social, diversity and inclusion, service and community, career and life skills, meaning and purpose, intellectual, and sustainability), including a dedicated podcast and a website that points students, faculty, and staff to a robust menu of resources. Yuhas, who is also Butler’s director for student affairs assessment and strategy and previously had spent five years with the National Survey of Student Engagement, wanted a deeper understanding of the difference the program was making. She likened the process of connecting well-being programs and resources with data to using grade point averages to determine a return-on-investment. Pulling all these elements together is what led Yuhas and colleagues to create the Student Well-being Institutional Support Survey (SWISS). Piloted in 2020, the survey does more than just check in on how students are doing; it asks them to consider how well the college or university performs in supporting their well-being. As Yuhas says, “By asking students how well the institution is supporting them in various aspects of their well-being, institutions then receive a road map of where an investment of time and resources can make the biggest impact.” To date, 27 campuses have utilized the survey, reaching approximately 20,000 students. Most requests by other institutions to be part of the SWISS survey come from vice presidents of student affairs, health promotions and well-being offices, and campus recreation departments.
With the increased attention to well-being, campuses are taking a more holistic approach and also expanding their assessment beyond the traditional data points.
The survey asks questions about support systems that are available in a wide variety of areas, including residential supports; campus resources; diversity, equity, and inclusion; academic supports; meaning and purpose; navigating campus; and engaging on campus. The most recent annual report stresses the importance of this wide net approach, explaining that “SWISS captures insights about more than one aspect of student supports on campus because support for student well-being is at its most effective when it is interconnected throughout a student’s experience.”
Not surprisingly, housing and dining interact with several aspects of the survey. “Housing is a basic need for all people, and students are no exception. Without safe, reliable, affordable housing, we cannot expect students to be their best academically and socially,” says Yuhas. “Housing is at the foundational level of well-being, and whether the residential climate for students fosters and supports well-being should be assessed regularly to ensure that students have the ability to thrive.” Fortunately, housing tends to score well. According to the 2023 SWISS annual report, an overwhelming number of undergraduate students (89%) agreed or disagreed that they felt safe in their place of residence and that it is a place where they can prepare for their courses (84%), relax (79%), and get as much sleep as they need (76%). To the question, “Thinking about resources on your campus, to what extent do you agree that your institution provides adequate on-campus housing options,” 64% agreed or strongly agreed. However, when asked if the campus provided adequate affordable housing for students, that number was only 33%.
The work doesn’t end when the survey is complete, though. When Butler conducted its own 2020 SWISS survey, the internal results showed that only 69% of students felt that their housing provided opportunities for social connection. Seeing an area for improvement, the residence life staff reviewed hall programming, increased outreach to sophomore students, updated RA training, and refocused the faculty-in-residence program. When the survey was done again in 2022, the percentage improved to 83%. This practitioner-focused approach and application is another benefit of the SWISS survey. Understanding how the data can be put into action – whether that be tweaking a program, increasing support, or moving the needle on awareness – reduces the likelihood of the survey simply gathering dust on a shelf.
With the increased attention to well-being, campuses are taking a more holistic approach and also expanding their assessment beyond the traditional data points. At Wake Forest University that has included surveying work requirements of faculty and resident assistants alike. “We changed the expectations of our Faculty Fellow program to include required weekly in-hall presence versus sporadic events throughout the semester,” says Kelsey Hansen, the assistant director of residence life. “Feedback from our assessment indicated that students who had more frequent interactions with their faculty fellows felt more connected to the faculty members and were more willing to engage in conversations with other faculty members on campus.”
“We also changed our RA Community Engagement model from 14 strategies a semester to one intentional connection with each resident once a month, two bulletin boards a semester, three events a semester, and four community director-led area events,” Hansen notes. “After assessing RAs’ experiences in the role, they shared that [the original requirements] were overwhelming and it resulted in them doing a lot of things poorly to check boxes versus building intentional communities.”
The assessment doesn't need to be confined to one college or university. American Campus Communities has taken advantage of its reach across multiple campuses to compile a trove of student mental health data. These efforts coincided with ACC’s 2019 partnership with the “Hi, How Are You Project,” a non-profit organization based in Austin, Texas, dedicated to destigmatizing mental health care. That work to connect college students with mental health resources has expanded, added more partners, and led to the creation of the College Student Mental Wellness Advocacy Coalition. “We are increasingly seeing that college students are facing challenges when it comes to their mental well-being,” notes Gina Cowart, senior vice president of American Campus Communities and a coalition co-founder. “One in four college students report being diagnosed with a mental illness, and one in five have had thoughts of suicide. As student housing providers, we know that the college experience should be one in which all people thrive, learn, and develop in healthy, safe, and positive environments.”
In October 2022, on World Mental Health Day, the coalition launched a survey asking students how they viewed their own mental health, what activities supported mental health, where they turned for mental health resources, and other related questions. The published results became the Thriving College Students Index Report. “Students are feeling a very wide variety of emotions,” Cowart explains, adding that when they were asked how they were feeling “all the time” or “often,” the top emotions chosen were “stressed out” (70%), “anxious or worried” (63%), and “overwhelmed” (61%). “This and other information revealed from the data helps us better program for what residents most want and need to thrive.”
“We see that a discomfort in speaking about mental health is tied to poor mental health,” Cowart adds. “The index has brought to the forefront that strong relationships between students and their community may help overall well-being. Based on this assessment, we have tweaked our customized peer-to-peer training programs that have become guiding tenets for ACC’s residence life program.” Other efforts have included an annual “Hi, How Are You Day” concert that is live-streamed and provides on-campus events to improve awareness, build stronger connections, and stress the importance of socialization.
Improving well-being is an obvious goal for any housing program. In fact, the case can be made that even the perception that institutions are – or are not – concerned about it will affect overall well-being and additional considerations such as student and staff recruitment. When the extra step is taken, though, to connect well-being to additional outcomes and also to thoroughly examine well-being initiatives, it can make a difference. As the SWISS report stresses, “the good news is that, while institutions cannot control the levels of individual well-being that students bring with them to college, they can control the supports provided to students once they enroll.”
James A. Baumann is editor of Talking Stick and the ACUHO-I publications director.