Campus Digest: Student health survey arriving soon

By Paul Mayne
January 18, 2013

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Next week, students will have an opportunity to open up (an email) and say ‘ahh.’

As part of the National College Health Assessment, Western will be among 31 Canadian universities conducting a survey of student health habits, behaviors and perceptions. The survey will collect data about risk and protective behaviours, perceived norms and incidences of a variety of health problems/conditions, which may affect academic performance and retention.

Since 2000, more than 825,000 students at 550 North American colleges and universities have participated in the survey.

Starting Monday, a random sampling of 6,000 Western students will be invited to participate in the confidential, 64-question online survey. Taking approximately 20 minutes to complete, the survey covers areas such as alcohol/tobacco/drug use, sexual behavior, nutrition and exercise and mental health.

The findings will enable Western not only to track health trends on its campus, but also make comparisons with other Canadian campuses, said Nicole Versaevel, Health Services health promotion manager. She hopes the information can be used to design evidence-based health promotion programs and marketing campaigns

“Hearing from our student community will enable us to understand, first hand, the significant health priorities of this population and assist us to better tailor campus-wide health promotion efforts and health and wellness services,” she said.

- Jason Winders

NEWS AND NOTES

•  As of Jan. 1, Thompson Arena and the T.D. Waterhouse Stadium no longer fall under Western’s Housing and Ancillary Services, having, as a facility, transitioned to Sport and Recreation Services. The transition means better alignment of programs and facilities, said Therese Quigley, Sports and Recreation Services director.
  “It really means much more seamless operation between facilities and programming, and facilitated planning and hosting of events, now that that unit is embedded in Sport and Recreation Services,” she said. “Things were good before – it’s not a change as a result of a problem – just a much more efficient way of managing programs and facilities.”
  All contacts remain the same and there will be no service disruptions of any kind as a result of this transition, Quigley added.
  
  
• Dennis McPhee, Western Mustangs football defensive coordinator, is heading back to the CFL for a third stint with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He spent last season at Western under Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall, a former Hamilton head coach. McPhee, 54, was with the Tiger-Cats from 1995-2001 (winning a Grey Cup in 1999) and 2004-06. He also coached at the university level, at St. Francis Xavier and Waterloo.

All the world’s a stage

Adela Talbot, Western News
Celebrating the launch of a new Italian major, the Department of Modern Languages and Literature brought a world-famous Italian theatre Commedia dell'Arte performance to Conron Hall, Jan. 15. Prior to the event, world-renowned performer Mace Perlman, pictured left, hosted workshops with students, teaching them the art of Italian theatre performance.