Challenge Accepted! a Critical Reflection on How to Perform a Health Survey Among University Students—An Example of the Healthy Campus Mainz Project
Background: Universities represent an important setting of everyday life for health promotion. The Healthy Campus Mainz project aims to develop an evidence-based and comprehensive student health management program covering physical, mental, and social health promotion. Hence, an initial health surve...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.616437/full |
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| author | Jennifer L. Reichel Thomas Rigotti Thomas Rigotti Ana Nanette Tibubos Antonia M. Werner Markus Schäfer Dennis Edelmann Daniel Pfirrmann Nicole Deci Manfred E. Beutel Birgit Stark Perikles Simon Stephan Letzel Pavel Dietz |
| author_facet | Jennifer L. Reichel Thomas Rigotti Thomas Rigotti Ana Nanette Tibubos Antonia M. Werner Markus Schäfer Dennis Edelmann Daniel Pfirrmann Nicole Deci Manfred E. Beutel Birgit Stark Perikles Simon Stephan Letzel Pavel Dietz |
| author_sort | Jennifer L. Reichel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Universities represent an important setting of everyday life for health promotion. The Healthy Campus Mainz project aims to develop an evidence-based and comprehensive student health management program covering physical, mental, and social health promotion. Hence, an initial health survey was performed in order to identify the students' health concerns and resources. Up until now, it remains unclear which topics to choose in a health survey among university students and which strategies can be recommended to receive an acceptable response rate or representative student sample within a university setting. The present paper contributes to the call for the present research topic “Public Health Promotion in University Students” by describing methods for health assessment. Therefore, the current paper aims to give an empirical example on how to perform a health survey among university students, focusing on (1) choosing topics for the survey and (2) methodological considerations of how to reach the target population.Methods: An online questionnaire including around 270 items was developed covering a comprehensive set of health topics. Participants were recruited via the university email. Mixed channels for survey promotion, such as lecture visits and social media, were used, accompanied by different monetary and non-monetary incentives. Descriptive analyses were performed to describe the sample.Results: A total of 5,006 participants (out of 31,213 registered students) viewed the first page of the questionnaire; of whom, 4,714 continued further. After a manual data cleaning according to the predefined criteria, the final sample was 4,351, demonstrating a response rate of 13.9%. Students from different study disciplines participated. However, some study disciplines showed a low participation rate, hence, making the results not free from some bias.Discussion: This survey is exceptional as it integrates a great variety of health aspects. The incentive strategy demonstrated promising results. Future research should try to improve target-group-specific recruitment strategies for the traditionally underrepresented groups, such as males and specific study disciplines. This would not only include advancing marketing strategies, but also refining the incentive strategy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T20:29:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0f807b6e62c248ffa81a7806f53f9e01 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T20:29:36Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-0f807b6e62c248ffa81a7806f53f9e012022-12-21T22:48:33ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652021-06-01910.3389/fpubh.2021.616437616437Challenge Accepted! a Critical Reflection on How to Perform a Health Survey Among University Students—An Example of the Healthy Campus Mainz ProjectJennifer L. Reichel0Thomas Rigotti1Thomas Rigotti2Ana Nanette Tibubos3Antonia M. Werner4Markus Schäfer5Dennis Edelmann6Daniel Pfirrmann7Nicole Deci8Manfred E. Beutel9Birgit Stark10Perikles Simon11Stephan Letzel12Pavel Dietz13Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, University Medical Center of the University of Mainz, Mainz, GermanyDepartment of Work, Organizational, and Business Psychology, Institute for Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, GermanyLeibniz Institute for Resilience Research, Mainz, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, GermanyDepartment of Communication, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, GermanyDepartment Sports Medicine, Rehabilitation and Disease Prevention, Institute of Sports Science, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, GermanyDepartment Sports Medicine, Rehabilitation and Disease Prevention, Institute of Sports Science, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, GermanyDepartment of Work, Organizational, and Business Psychology, Institute for Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, GermanyDepartment of Communication, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, GermanyDepartment Sports Medicine, Rehabilitation and Disease Prevention, Institute of Sports Science, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, GermanyInstitute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, University Medical Center of the University of Mainz, Mainz, GermanyInstitute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, University Medical Center of the University of Mainz, Mainz, GermanyBackground: Universities represent an important setting of everyday life for health promotion. The Healthy Campus Mainz project aims to develop an evidence-based and comprehensive student health management program covering physical, mental, and social health promotion. Hence, an initial health survey was performed in order to identify the students' health concerns and resources. Up until now, it remains unclear which topics to choose in a health survey among university students and which strategies can be recommended to receive an acceptable response rate or representative student sample within a university setting. The present paper contributes to the call for the present research topic “Public Health Promotion in University Students” by describing methods for health assessment. Therefore, the current paper aims to give an empirical example on how to perform a health survey among university students, focusing on (1) choosing topics for the survey and (2) methodological considerations of how to reach the target population.Methods: An online questionnaire including around 270 items was developed covering a comprehensive set of health topics. Participants were recruited via the university email. Mixed channels for survey promotion, such as lecture visits and social media, were used, accompanied by different monetary and non-monetary incentives. Descriptive analyses were performed to describe the sample.Results: A total of 5,006 participants (out of 31,213 registered students) viewed the first page of the questionnaire; of whom, 4,714 continued further. After a manual data cleaning according to the predefined criteria, the final sample was 4,351, demonstrating a response rate of 13.9%. Students from different study disciplines participated. However, some study disciplines showed a low participation rate, hence, making the results not free from some bias.Discussion: This survey is exceptional as it integrates a great variety of health aspects. The incentive strategy demonstrated promising results. Future research should try to improve target-group-specific recruitment strategies for the traditionally underrepresented groups, such as males and specific study disciplines. This would not only include advancing marketing strategies, but also refining the incentive strategy.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.616437/fullhealth surveystudent healthhealth promoting universityhealth promotionuniversity students |
| spellingShingle | Jennifer L. Reichel Thomas Rigotti Thomas Rigotti Ana Nanette Tibubos Antonia M. Werner Markus Schäfer Dennis Edelmann Daniel Pfirrmann Nicole Deci Manfred E. Beutel Birgit Stark Perikles Simon Stephan Letzel Pavel Dietz Challenge Accepted! a Critical Reflection on How to Perform a Health Survey Among University Students—An Example of the Healthy Campus Mainz Project Frontiers in Public Health health survey student health health promoting university health promotion university students |
| title | Challenge Accepted! a Critical Reflection on How to Perform a Health Survey Among University Students—An Example of the Healthy Campus Mainz Project |
| title_full | Challenge Accepted! a Critical Reflection on How to Perform a Health Survey Among University Students—An Example of the Healthy Campus Mainz Project |
| title_fullStr | Challenge Accepted! a Critical Reflection on How to Perform a Health Survey Among University Students—An Example of the Healthy Campus Mainz Project |
| title_full_unstemmed | Challenge Accepted! a Critical Reflection on How to Perform a Health Survey Among University Students—An Example of the Healthy Campus Mainz Project |
| title_short | Challenge Accepted! a Critical Reflection on How to Perform a Health Survey Among University Students—An Example of the Healthy Campus Mainz Project |
| title_sort | challenge accepted a critical reflection on how to perform a health survey among university students an example of the healthy campus mainz project |
| topic | health survey student health health promoting university health promotion university students |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.616437/full |
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