Health Education/Health Promotion

Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health. It moves beyond a focus on individual behavior towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions. (Source: World Health Organization) At colleges and universities, health promotion serves the core mission of higher education by supporting students and creating healthy learning environments.

This page is an index of ACHA and other resources on this topic. Resources include association projects, programs, publications, guidelines, and more. Additional information may be available under “External Resources.”

ACHA Resources

Health Promotion Section [members only]
The ACHA Health Promotion Section provides networking opportunities, resources, and support to members in the health promotion field.

Faculty and Staff Health and Wellness Coalition
The purpose of the ACHA Faculty and Staff Health and Wellness coalition is: to encourage the inclusion of the campus community as a whole in college health efforts in order to build healthy environments that optimize learning; to provide a mechanism for the exchange of information, resources, and research-based best practices to address the health and wellness of faculty and staff on campus; and to provide continuing education and professional development across ACHA.

ACHA Faculty and Staff Health and Wellness Survey 2012
The ACHA Faculty and Staff Health and Wellness Coalition conducted this survey to collect data about faculty and staff health promotion and wellness programs on ACHA member campuses. The data collected provides valuable information about these programs and assists the coalition in assessing the scope and extent of educational efforts to address the health and wellness of faculty and staff on campus.

ACHA Guidelines for Hiring Health Promotion Professionals in Higher Education [pdf]
This document provides support and guidance in hiring well-qualified health promotion professionals who can provide effective programs and services within our institutions of higher education.

Standards of Practice for Health Promotion in Higher Education [pdf]
These ACHA Guidelines provide measurable guidelines for enhancing the quality of health promotion programs in colleges and universities.

Student Learning Outcomes
Results of the ACHA Fall 2010 survey, background information, definitions, examples of SLOs, and resources.

Vision Into Action
This companion to the ACHA Standards of Practice for Health Promotion in Higher Education, Third Edition includes tools, strategies, and action steps to assist health promotion professionals, supervisors, senior administrators, and others in translating the standards to practice.

ACHA Programs

ACHA-National College Health AssessmentThe ACHA-National College Health Assessment is a nationally recognized research survey that provides current, relevant, and precise data about students’ health habits, behaviors, and perceptions. Data from this survey covers smoking habits, contraception use, mental health issues, relationship difficulties, sexual behaviors, exercise habits, preventive health practices, perceptions of drug and alcohol use, and more. Data also includes Impediments to Academic Performance (see "Data Highlights").

Healthy Campus 2020

ACHA's Healthy Campus provides a framework for improving the overall health status on campuses nationwide. Healthy Campus includes national health objectives for students and faculty/staff; promotes an action model using an ecological approach; and provides a toolkit for implementation based on the MAP-IT (Mobilize, Assess, Plan, Implement and Track) framework. These tools and resources will help institutions of higher education determine which objectives are relevant, achievable, and a priority on your campus.

 

External Resources

ACHA thanks its committee, coalition, task force, and section volunteers for providing resources and links concerning this topic. ACHA does not endorse or accept responsibility for the content or use of external websites .

Coalition of National Health Education Organizations (CNHEO)

American Association for Health Education (AAHE)

American School Health Association (ASHA)

Coalition of National Health Education Organizations

The College Health Promotion List
The College Health Promotion List (Hlthprom) provides a forum for the exchange of information among professionals providing health promotion and prevention services at colleges/universities. To join HLTHPROM, fill in the form on this page: https://lists.wisc.edu/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=hlthprom

Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS)
CAS has been the pre-eminent force for promoting standards in student affairs, student services, and student development programs since its inception in 1979. The CAS Professional Standards for Higher Education (7th edition) is available at the CAS website.

CAS Standards: Health Promotion Services   [members only]

The Directors of Health Promotion and Education 
Formerly known as the Association of State and Territorial Directors of Health Promotion and Public Health Education, ASTDHPPHE, this organization is a joint effort between directors of health education in state health departments, deans of health education in schools of public health, and the Director of Health with the U.S. Public Health Service.

National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc.

National Social Norms Institute

National Wellness Institute

Okanagan Charter
This resource is the outcome of the 2015 International Conference on Health Promoting Universities and Colleges. The Charter serves as a call to action for institutions of higher education to create healthier campuses and healthier communities.

Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE)