Question: This is based on Nutrition in Eckerd college campus.
Design a creative an effective strategy to improve the health of our campus community and help achieve a Health Campus 2010 objective.
Parts that will be taken care in the paper.
10pts – Describe your general goals and specific, measurable objectives. Baseline and future benchmarks to measure change. Use HP 2010 and HC 2010 format for measurable objectives.
40 pts – Describe fully and justify the creative intervention strategy/ies and why it is feasible, effective, and efficient. On what basis did you decide upon this intervention? (Feasibility-time, cost, staffing, effectiveness?). What single or multiple activities will be implemented? Media campaigns, workshops, group organizing, art and drama, policy changes, use of computer and other electronics technology, etc.
10 pts – What resistance or obstacles do you anticipate and how will you overcome them?
20 pts – Implementation plan. Describe how you would implement this intervention. Who would do what, on what time schedule, with what resources, where and how? Design an implementation plan chart with time and dates for each intervention.
10pts – Estimate the funding necessary to implement this intervention and where you would find necessary funds and resources to carry out this program. Design a budget showing revenue and expenditures.
10 pts – Evaluation plan. How will you evaluate the effectiveness of your plan? How will you know if was or was not successful? What data will you gather, when, and how will you analyze it?
The Eckerd College is a private accredited 4-year college situated at the southernmost tip of St. Petersburg, Florida. The campus is unique in many ways. It has three miles of waterfront between Boca Ciega Bay and Frenchman’s Creek. It is located near to St. Petersburg, but is well separated from the city. The buildings in the campus have a diverse architecture style, but basically the structures have a lot of glasses to reflect the surrounding environment. Dolphins and sea cows are sometimes spotted swimming in the nearby sea. Several unique birds such as herons, cranes, pelicans, wood stocks and spoonbills visit campus frequently.
About 1600 full-time students and 130 full-time faculty members are present in the school. A good proportion of students come from nearby Florida. The female strength of students is greater than the male strength. About 1500 students attend weekend programs at the college. Every year about 350 full-time students and about 190 part-time students receive their degrees. About 80% of the fulltime students live in the residential facilities in the college. The dormitories are all-female, co-educational or all-male, and are located in about 10 complexes. All the residential facilities are connected by a beach-walk. There is a special pet dormitory for students that wish to keep their pets. Besides, wellness home, health centers and exercise gyms are also present.
The campus boosts of a number of dining halls, convenience stores and eat outs offering visitors and students fast snacks and meals. The Student ID Card also functions as a method of paying for food and other expenditures. The main place to eat is the Crossroads Cafeteria where constantly half the number of dishes served is vegetarian. The northern part of the campus consists of CEC dining which presents breakfast, dinner at lunch with a restricted menu. The snack bars offer a variety of healthy eatables such as salads and fruits.
A program to improve the health of the college community needs to be implemented. The health of the student community needs to be improved because they form an important part of the nation’s future. The main goal of the program is to improve the health and the wellbeing of all the individuals of the college community.
Objectives:-
1. To increase provision of high quality health insurance to the students. The insurance rate for students in 2000 was 83.3%. It should be increased to 100% by 2010.
2. To decrease alcohol and drug misuse in the college population through education and community based programs. At present only 47.5% of the students are educated about drug abuse in colleges. It should be increased to 55% by 2010. Tobacco use also needs to be curbed as tobacco smoke can be harmful not only to the smoker but also to the people sitting around.
3. To reduce the rates of unintentional pregnancies in women through proper planning. In 2000, 2.5% of student pregnancies were unwanted and it should be brought down to 1.7% by 2010.
4. To increase physical fitness, health and life by encouraging exercises. Students should exercise at least 3 days a week for about 20 to 30 minutes (depending on the intensity of exercises). In 2000, 40.3% of the students were able to perform exercises, which need to be increased to 45% by 2010.
5. Students need to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables to encourage health and reduce incidences of disease. In 2000, only 7.4% of students consumed recommended amounts (5 servings daily) of fruits and vegetable, which need to be increased to 25.5% by 2010.
6. To reduce incidences of injury, physical disabilities, mental trauma and fatalities arising from violence or unintentional injuries. Incidents such as rape, sexual assault, attempted rape, physical assault, accidents, etc. In 2000, incidences of rape and sexual assault stood at 3.5% and 9.6% respectively. Through the program, efforts should be made to reduce rape to 2.3% and sexual assault to 5.6% by 2010. Studies conducted showed that motor vehicular accidents and unintentional injuries was the largest cause of death for young adults. The rates of suicide, homicide and AIDS-related death was also high. Studies showed that most of the times the accidents could be prevented by some known means. A few numbers of individuals belong to this age group died due to cancers, heart disorders and other such problems.
7. To improve the mental health status of the student community, reduce incidences of mental health disorders and improve access to high-quality mental health services such as counseling and psychotherapy. In 2000, on 41.4% of the student population have access to appropriate psychiatric services, which needs to be increased to 50% by 2010.
8. To promoted health and address any reproductive problems of the student community. Special attention needs to be given to immunization of students against vaccine-preventable communicable diseases and managing gynecological problems of the female students.
Strategies:
1. Insurance should be provided to each and every student. The insurance fees should be collected along with the annual fees the students pay. The college should form collaboration with corporate to provide appropriate insurance packages for the students.
2. The college should develop a ‘Zero-tolerance policy’ towards alcohol and substance abuse. Alcohol and substance abuse should be considered at detrimental to maintaining high-standards of performance, discipline and professionalism in the college campus. Some students may be having a problem with alcohol or drug abuse. The college authorities should not only try to retain such students but also help getting them back to normal life and functioning through appropriate counseling and other treatment measures. Urine tests and blood tests may be required frequently to check for drug abuse in students. Students should voluntarily come forward to undergoing such tests. However, it should be left to their final decision to either undergo the test or refuse it. Efforts should be made to at least conduct one drug check in each student every year. Sometimes, the college staff may suspect drug abuse in a particular group of students. Effective measure should be available to detect abuse. Besides, incidents of conflicts arising from substance abuse may surface often in the college campus. The college authorities should be able to identify the presence of substance abuse in such incidents. The students of the campus have to be provided education programs so that they can understand the ill-effects and risks involved with alcohol or drug abuse. Besides, rehabilitations programs should also be available in the college campus so that the students can be treated effectively for substance abuse. Once the signs and indications of substance abuse stop showing in the student, should the treatment be deemed successful and stopped. Students should be told to approach their counselors in case they have a problem with drugs or alcohol, or suspect another student to be consuming them. Each student should be taught the indications of abuse. Besides staff who can serve as counselors need to be identified and appointed. Educational programs should be conducted at least once in every 2 months. Student counselors and professional psychologists need to be appointed. One of these counselors should be available for every 100 students. Besides, equipments to test for drug and alcohol abuse need to be purchased or contract with an external agency should be organized to enable alcohol and drug testing. The college should also prepare informative computer fact sheets regarding drug and alcohol abuse. These fact sheets should be available via kiosks for the students to access. The college should prepare specific anti-tobacco rules so that others are not affected by its use. Smoking should be prohibited in all public areas of the college such as classrooms, auditoriums, gymnasiums, residential facilities, etc. It may take at least three months for the rules to be framed, approved and enforced.
3. Students may often indulge in unsafe sex which increases the risk of unintended pregnancy and STD’s. An appropriate sex awareness program needs to be implemented so that such incidents do not occur. Every three months, students should be provided with a three hour lecture on safe sex. Staff specialized in public health should be identified to deliver such programs. Besides, banners, graffiti, plays and dramas regarding safe sex should be launched to create such awareness. The college should also install automated vending machines which could enable access to condoms. These vending machines should be placed in areas frequented by students such as dormitories, canteens, health centers, etc. The college should also prepare colorful internet fact sheets regarding safe-sex. These fact sheets should be available via kiosks for the students.
4. Students should be encouraged to exercise regularly to stay physically and mentally fit. Educational programs regarding health and physical fitness should be implemented at least once every 2 months. Staff belonging to the physical education department should serve this purpose. The present gymnasium facilities may be inadequate to serve the entire student population. Hence it would be advisable to construct another gym facility which would take at least 6 months. Keeping approval from the institutions governing body in mind, it would take an additional 6 months. Alternatively, exercising equipments such as thread mills, exercise bikes, etc should be provided to students at subsidized rates. Students who want to enroll in such purchases should come forward. Keeping the number of students in mind, such exercises kits can be ordered in bulk from the suppliers. This would take at least three months. Besides, sports activities and inter-collegiate activities should be encouraged by the college authorities. The college requires at least 10 physical trainers who could train students in different sports such as athletics, boxing, baseball, basketball football, swimming and other sports. It would take at least 3 months to identify such trainers and appoint them.
5. Students need to be educated more about food and nutrition. Educational programs should be organized at least once in three months. Staff belonging to the nutrition department should organize such events. Kiosks containing fact sheets on food and nutrition should be prepared and placed for the students to read. Charts on the food pyramid should be prepared and installed at various points in the college. Cafeterias should be encouraged to serve wholesome meals, especially containing high-amounts of fruits and vegetable. Daily wholesome food packages should be available for the students to purchase. To identify and recruit caterers according to the needs would take at least 4 months.
6. Incidences of violence and accidents also need to be reduced in the campus. An effective anti-substance abuse program would definitely help to reduce violence to some extent. Besides, security needs to be improved in the college campus. Security personnel and various monitoring devices (such as closes circuit cameras and wireless devices) need to be acquired and installed at various points in the campus. A centralized security control room should be installed which would cater to all security threats. This team would monitor the activities in the campus and answer any threat within a few minutes. It would take at least 6 month to obtain the funds and install such a security management system. Students need to be educated about drunken driving and unsafe activities. Protective devices should be worn during all sports activities.
7. Counselors should be appointed to help students in every problem that they face. For every 50 students, one counselor should be made available. Students should be educated for developing ways to counteract the various stressful activities of life. Educational programs regarding mental health should be organized once in every four months. Staff belonging to the department of psychology should implement such programs. Besides, psychologists, social workers and mental health nurses need to be appointed to detect and manage psychiatric problems such as depression. The recruitment process would at least take 6 months. The college could collaborate with an external healthcare service provider to provide mental health services.
8. Students should be encouraged to follow a vaccination schedule to prevent many infectious diseases. A vaccination schedule should be prepared and enforced. Educational programs promoting immunization needs to be initiated. Funds for vaccines need to be collected from the students. Tenders also need to be placed so that appropriate suppliers can be selected. Staff that can help vaccinate the students (about 2 or 3 nurses) should also be appointed. Besides, gynecological problems of the female students should be addressed. Special educational programs need to be designed and started. Staff from the public health department could be useful in designing such a program. Specialists in gynecology and obstetrics also need to be appointed. One gynecologist for every 200 students (female) should be available. It may take at least 6 months to acquire and appoint the suitable personnel.
Constraints:
1. One of the biggest constraints would be to acquire adequate resources to implement the program. The various resources that need to be acquired include financial resources, human resources, infrastructure and materials (such equipment, kiosks, etc). One way would be to set up a separate developmental fund for the college. A portion of the fees would be contributed towards this fund. The college may collect money from several programs conducted by corporate in the campus. Certain amount of such collections should go into the college developmental fund. New students joining for courses in the college may be asked to pay extra towards this developmental fund.
2. The students may fail to understand the need of various educational programs and workshops organized in the college frequently. Approaches that are student friendly should be adopted such as plays, dramas, internet education, etc. Efforts should be made to include the student population in such events.
3. Some students may find it difficult to discuss issues such as safe sex, alcohol or drug abuse and sexual abuse at the college campus with the counselors, social workers or college psychologists. It may be important that the students be educated about such issues. Efforts should be made to include a student member in committees which deal with such issues. The students may be willing to discuss such issues with the student member they would be familiar with.
4. The college authorities may not be motivated in implementing and releasing the funds for such a program. In such a case, student leaders should feel the need of such a program and should motivate the college authorities to initiate the program. Funding can also be sought from NGO’s and social welfare organizations.
5. Seeking corporate support may be difficult. However, corporate that would be able to mutually benefit with the college should be identified and programs that would benefit both sides mutually should be devised.
Implementation Plan:
1. Framing the objectives and implantation strategies of the program with planning staff members, students, college managements, sponsors and student welfare organizations – 3 months.
2. Approval from the management to implement such a plan – 3months.
3. Devising the educational process and implementing it – 3 months
4. Seeking the financial resources and acquiring the staff, infrastructure and equipment – 3 months.
It would take at least one year to implement the program after seeking devising the plan, seeking approval for the program, getting the resources and initiate the program. However, some parts of the program such as educating the students can be started using existing resources and staff. This can be initiated within 3 months.
Funding:
Infrastructure – new gymnasium, health center, college security control room, etc.
Materials – kiosks, internet devices, fitness equipment, short circuit cameras, monitoring devices, wireless phones, vaccination material, vending machines, educational materials, insurance packages, etc.
Human resources – counselors, social workers, psychologist, gynecologists, public health nurses, mental health nurses, physical trainers, catering staff, security personnel, etc.
Programs – Educational programs on substance abuse, safe sex, health and physical fitness, violence and psychiatric health.
Revenue:-
1. Student developmental fund
2. Student fees
3. Voluntary contributions
4. NGO’s and social welfare organizations
5. Corporate funding
6. Mutually beneficial programs
7. Government funding
8. New student fees
9. Financial support provided by the college administration
Expenditure:-
1. Gymnasium facilities
2. Campus security
3. Campus informatics system
4. Healthcare facility
5. Catering facilities
6. Sports facilities
7. Girl students’ healthcare
8. Immunization facilities
9. Safe sex facilities
10. Educational materials (charts, kiosks, mass media, internet facilities, etc)
Evaluation Plan:
To determine the extent and the time within which the objectives are achieved.
To determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the program
Monitoring the performance of the program
Quality checks
Provide responsibility and accountability
See that the requirements of the contract are being maintained
See that the staff are competent in playing their roles
Make sure that the policy followed is having an effect
Study the impact of the program
Evaluation 1 – Create awareness of the program and initiate a response through the mass media. The students should be informed about the program through various media such as electronic, culture programs, press, journals, student clubs, educational programs, etc, and should be made a part of planning and implementing the program.
Evaluation 2 – The program should be designed by the students, staff members, college administration, sponsors and stakeholders. Activities such as meeting and other modes of communication should exist. All conflicts should be sorted out and devices that help to communicate better should be found.
Evaluation 3 – Studying the insurance status of the students (an increase should be found).
Evaluation 4 – Interview or survey the students to identify incidences of alcohol or drug use. Records containing reports of drug use should be studied. Reporting of incidents relating to substance abuse (incidents of substance abuse should slowly decrease). Prevalence of tobacco-related disorders should be determined after introduction of anti-tobacco rules. Non-smokers and enforcement agencies should also respond to the extent at which the rules are being followed.
Evaluation 5 – Students should be interviewed regarding the time, duration and type of exercises performed. Physical fitness tests can be conducted (there should be an increase in the number of students regularly exercising, along with better physical fitness levels).
Evaluation 6 – Students should be interviewed regarding the type and amount of foods consumed. The records of the cafeteria can also be studied (decrease in consumption of junk foods and increase in consumption of dairy foods, fruits and vegetables).
Evaluation 7 – The crime rate in the campus should be studied by observing the records of the counselors or law and order enforcement agencies. The counselors, student members, etc can also be interviewed (there should be a decrease in the crime and accident rates).
Evaluation 8 – Interviewing the mental health service providers about the incidences and severity of mental health problems. Students can also be interviewed to study the pattern of psychiatric problems, the incidence rates, implementation of the program and the incidents following implementation (initially there could be high rates of incidences of reporting psychiatric problems because of the awareness created by the program). However, it in the long, the incidence rates would drop due to development of appropriate behavior.
Evaluation 9 – Interviewing the women’s health specialist regarding incidents of gynecological disorders in female students. During the initial stages, the incidents may be high due to increased awareness created from the program. However, following the implementation of the program the incidences of such problems would decrease due to development of appropriate health behavior and practices. The number of students seeking vaccination against infectious diseases should also be studied by examining the records. The incidences of such diseases should be studied by examining the case sheets before implementation of the program and after implementation. (If the program is a success there should be a decrease in incidences of infectious diseases).
References:
deHart, M. P., Aarthun, S. R., & Kimsey, T. (2006). Immunization Practices and Policies in Colleges and Universities in Washington State. Retrieved December 12, 2006, from Washington State Department of Health Web site: http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/immunize/documents/collegesurvey.pdf
Eckerd College. (2006). Welcome to Eckerd College. Retrieved December 12, 2006, from Eckerd College – Campus Tour Web site: http://www.eckerd.edu/tour/index.php?f=home
Healthy People (2006). Maternal, Infant, and Child Health. Retrieved December 12, 2006, from Healthy People Web site: http://www.healthypeople.gov/document/HTML/Volume2/16MICH.htm
James, D. C. S., Chen, W. W., & Sheu, J. (2005). “Comparison of Three Tobacco Survey Methods with College Students: A Case Study”, The International Electronic Journal of Health Education, 8, 120-125. http://www.aahperd.org/iejhe/template.cfm?template=2005/james.html
The United States Navy. (2005). Alcohol and Drug Abuse Checklist. Retrieved December 12, 2006, from Navy leaders guide site used for managing distressed personnel in the Navy Web site: http://www-nehc.med.navy.mil/LGuide/Mental_Health/Alcohol_drugabuse/AlcoholDA_index.htm
University Of Southern California (20006). Health Campus Priority 2010 Objectives. Retrieved December 12, 2006, from USC Web site:
http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/Health_Center/docs/2004.hc2010.priorities.pdf
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