A&M-Commerce community encouraged to take health survey to create effective programs

A public health class at Texas A&M University-Commerce has created an online survey to assess the health needs of the campus community in order to create programs to meet those needs.

Students in the Planning and Organization of Health Promotion class, an upper-level course in the Department of Health and Human Performance, have been formulating the “Healthy Lions Survey” for the better part of the spring semester. The survey seeks to pin down the biggest needs in six major categories.

Specifically, the survey is aimed at the following groups: The general student population at A&M-Commerce; faculty and staff; international students; racial and ethnic minorities; LGBTQ students; and student-athletes.

According to Dr. Elizabeth Wachira, assistant professor of health human performance, “The answers our students get from this survey will help shape the program they will create in the fall.”

The class chose to break the university community into groups because each group faces unique health challenges.

“For example, we cannot assume that student-athletes have similar needs to the general student populations, as there are many unique factors,” Wachira said. “How does athletics affect mental wellbeing, considering students have demands outside of the classroom?”

Last year, public health students created a mental health awareness program, but the type of program students create this fall will depend on current needs, based on the survey results.

Public health student Cyeadra Munson says the survey process has been streamlined through effective leadership.

“Dr. Wachira has set us up for success and made the process of creating this survey much easier,” Munson said. “I hope we can find answers to true health issues in the university community.”

Munson said that she and 37 fellow students in the class split up into six groups to focus on the six different target areas.

Dr. Wachira added that she hopes the survey will “allow us to pay attention to the diversity on campus and ask what the health needs are.”

The survey is open to all A&M-Commerce students, faculty and staff over the age of 18, and ends April 20. The survey can be found here.