Heads Up: Changes Coming to MyStudentBody!

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Ty Achilles

Hopefully, you noticed that MyStudentBody has been running faster. You have? Good, because in November we upgraded MyStudentBody’s operating platform behind the scenes. But here at MyStudentBody HQ, we’ll be rolling out some changes over the next few months in addition to some of our recent upgrades. Here’s a look at the next three big steps.

Change #1

Early next month, our welcome page will get a fresh look and links to useful articles that you can share with colleagues. Check out the snazzy previews of the new welcome page and library below.

Change #2

In February, we’ll also be unveiling a new registration process that will make users’ information more secure and help with forgotten passwords. Administrators, this is important because you’ll need to revise your instructions to students. But don’t worry, we’ll provide new samples and templates online.

Change #3

Also coming in February, MyStudentBody’s wellness information (topics like stress, sexual health, nutrition, and tobacco) will be available from the Student Center page. Here’s why: administrators spoke, we listened.

Back in September, we asked administrators who use MyStudentBody to tell us how they use the program, and how we could make it more useful to them and students. Regarding the wellness information, the biggest takeaways were:

MyStudentBody’s wellness components, which aren’t part of the Essentials or Student Conduct courses, are liked, but not used extensively with students.
Half of administrators found the wellness areas “very valuable,” but only 35% thought they were “very popular” with students.
More than 70% agreed that, “though the wellness sites seem useful, we rarely use them.”
Nearly 90% agreed that those areas “would be helpful if we used (them) more.”

In an effort to provide the comprehensive student health education we’ve always promised and provide ongoing prevention support, we asked ourselves what we could do to make the wellness information more accessible to students. Clearly, it’s important to administrators. We decided to move that wellness information to the Student Center tab of MyStudentBody because then it would be more easily seen and used as a resource by students. And 82% administrators liked that idea.

So that’s exactly what we’re doing. We expect the changes to take effect in late February, and we’ll have more information about that in January. Until then, those areas will be available as they’ve always been.

For more details about the findings from our customer survey read the Executive Summary [PDF].

Fulfilling Federal Mandates Part 2: Dominican College Uses MyStudentBody In Title IX Compliance

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Ty Achilles

In the first part of this series, we discussed the “Dear Partner” letter, which announced that campus drug abuse programs would be falling under increased scrutiny by the US Department of Education and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. We suggested ways that college and university administrators can step up the drug prevention programs on their campuses. In the second part of this series, we invite you to find out more about how MyStudentBody can help schools respond to another part of these new federal mandates, which was outlined in the recently distributed “Dear Colleague” letter.

Dominican College, in Orangeburg, NY, is a small college in the Catholic tradition serving about 1,800 students with professional programs in teacher education, athletic training, social work, business administration, and the health care professions of nursing and occupational and physical therapy. In addition to over 30 programs of study, the college also has a strong athletic program, sponsoring 12 intercollegiate sports in NCAA Division II.

According to Dominican College’s Prevention and Education Coordinator, Eileen A. Piccininni, MA, LPC, CASAC, CEAP, the “Dear Colleague” letter issued by the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights last April means all US colleges will be looking more uniformly at how they handle sexual assault complaints. The letter, which the White House has declared a “significant guidance document”, reiterated schools’ obligation under Title IX to deal with sexual harassment as unlawful discrimination, and detailed the process by which institutions should respond to sexual assault complaints.

“The ‘Dear Colleague’ letter specifically references issues around sexual violence,” Piccininni says. “Every campus will be reviewing and improving methods for promoting healthy and safe environments through educating students about sexual violence issues.”

Dominican has used MyStudentBody for the past five years as part of its alcohol abuse prevention education, and began using the Essentials course, which covers sexual violence as well as alcohol and drug use, last year. Piccininni finds it an effective tool for Title IX training and documentation. “Proactively, we’ve assigned MyStudentBody Essentials as part of the curriculum for our year-long Freshman Seminar,” she says. “I also use it when I have students who violate the alcohol and other drug policy.”

As part of an educational sanction for students who violate the policy, Piccininni requires completion of either the Essentials Course or the Student Conduct Course. Piccininni has also assigned the sexual violence component of Essentials course to students whose relationships show warning signs of dating violence or potential abuse. “These courses help to increase the culture of respect for self and respect for others, instilling the importance of being an active bystander and of a shared responsibility for the safest and most healthy learning environment possible,” she explains.

And at Dominican, MyStudentBody isn’t just for students. “Every administrator in student services has been asked by our Dean of Students to take and pass the Essentials course,” Piccininni says. “We’ve recommended that faculty and other staff take it as well.”

Fulfilling Federal Mandates Part 1: Drug Prevention and the Biennial Review

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Ty Achilles

To remain eligible for federal education funds, institutions of higher education must comply with mandates aimed at preventing alcohol and drug abuse, violence, exploitation, and discrimination. “Dear Partner” and “Dear Colleague” letters carry the force of law and may upend the interpretation of existing requirements. In this two-part series, we look at two recent communications from federal regulators, and how MyStudentBody can help institutions respond.

On September 23, the US Department of Education (DOE) joined forces with the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in a “Dear Partner” letter to college and university administrators announcing that under the 2011 National Drug Control Strategy, campus drug abuse prevention programs would fall under increased scrutiny.

Schools have been required to provide prevention programs under Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) Part 86 (the Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Act) since 1990. But on many campuses, alcohol is the primary concern. The September letter emphasized drug abuse prevention and treatment in a new way, calling for systematic early identification and treatment of students with substance abuse disorders and increased partnership with college-level recovery programs.

The letter also explicitly pointed out the requirement to cover drug abuse programs and sanctions in the upcoming Part 86 biennial review. As you assemble your report over the next year, keep in mind that the DOE is looking for evidence that your program actively addresses illegal drug use. If drug prevention hasn’t been an emphasis on your campus in recent years, now is the time to make sure your program goals and strategies include it.

Both laws and medical knowledge change, sometimes rapidly. Make sure the drug messages in your annual notification are up to date.
President Obama has set a goal of reducing illegal drug use in the US by 10% over the next 5 years. Consider a similar goal for your campus.
If you survey your students or staff as part of your biennial review process, be sure to include questions on both drug and alcohol use and treatment.
The review requires you to recommend revisions, so if you find your program falls short in its approach to drugs, investigate ways to more effectively promote the DOE/ONDCP goals going forward.

Also make the most of any tools and data you currently use that do address drug use. The drugs section in MyStudentBody Essentials provides prevention education on both prescription and illicit drug abuse, and MyStudentBody Admin reports data that can help you assess the prevalence and severity of drug abuse on your campus.

Overheard On Campus: My partner cheated on me – should I get tested for an STI even though I don’t feel any symptoms?

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Ty Achilles

Contributed by Melissa Kelley, MS, CHES, Beau Dooley, MS, MPH, & Erin Kaufmann, BS

Check out what Melissa Kelley, a health educator at the University of Rochester, Beau Dooley, Associate Director of Student Wellness and Outreach at James Madison University, and Erin Kaufmann, MPH student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, have to say about getting tested in this not-so-fun situation. For information on similar topics, check out the Overheard On Campus category or log in to MyStudentBody.

Melissa says …

Many people aren’t symptomatic or don’t recognize the symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection (STI). It’s always better to be sure.

Most clinics and health services offer confidential, free, or reduced-cost testing, so that lessens the burden of testing.

Keep in mind that getting tested regularly can be part of your standard health care regimen. Even people in long-term, committed relationships can benefit from knowing for sure whether they have an STI. People tested regularly also benefit from early detection and treatment if necessary, and from the confidence of knowing that they’re keeping their partner(s) safe.

We are each only responsible for our own health and well-being, so getting tested, even when we think the risk is low, is worth it!

Beau says …

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that there are about 19 million new STI cases each year, making STI a major health concern, especially for sexually active young adults. So your anxiety about contracting an STI from your partner is a valid one.

If you’ve had sex, especially unprotected sex, with your partner after your partner has had sexual contact with another person, you should strongly consider getting tested for an STI – even if you do not feel any symptoms. Here’s why:

Many STIs are asymptomatic, which means that you’re infected but don’t exhibit any symptoms. For example, the majority of people infected with chlamydia (the most frequently reported STI in the U.S.) have no symptoms at all.

If symptoms do appear, there may be a delay from the time of infection to their onset. For instance, chlamydia symptoms, if present, usually appear between 1 and 3 weeks after exposure. Symptoms in HIV-positive individuals may take months or even years to develop.

The symptoms of many STIs may be mild and mistaken for other conditions. For example, in women, the symptoms of gonorrhea are often mild and can be so nonspecific that they’re mistaken for a bladder or vaginal infection by a medical provider.

Periodic testing for both you and your partner(s) is a good thing. Using safer-sex practices and effectively communicating with your partner about STIs is a great thing. Talk to your healthcare provider about STI testing options and other ways to protect your health.

Erin says …

One of the best ways to prevent sexually transmitted infections is by staying in a monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner, but this means that both partners have to stay monogamous.

An STI is probably the last thing you want to think about after your partner has cheated. But unfortunately, because you don’t know the unwanted third party’s sexual history, you don’t know what unwanted STIs he or she may have passed to your partner and then on to you.

It’s important for both men and women to get tested for STIs even if they don’t experience any symptoms. Most people who have an STI don’t know that they have it.

Many common STIs, such as chlamydia, herpes, and HIV, can be spread between partners even when no symptoms are present. Because your partner has recently had sex with someone else, he or she may have contracted an STI, even without feeling or seeing any signs of one. Getting tested early, before you experience symptoms, is the best way to cure or treat an infection and to prevent its long-term effects.

Even if or when your cheating partner is long gone, you don’t want to be left with a burning, itching reminder of him or her.

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Body Sense: Fad diets = bad diets

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Ty Achilles

Contributed by C. Claire Armagnac, B.A.

Let’s face it. Fad diets are the Lindsay Lohans of the nutrition world. They have horrible reputations, and they’re disorganized, damaging, and unhealthy, but they still continue to make headlines and have millions of devoted fans.

Most of us have a coworker, friend, or friend-of-a-friend who has lost weight by following an extreme, temporary weight-loss plan, more commonly known as a fad diet. This month’s post is an exploration of the dangers of some of the more popular fad diets. It also includes tips on how to choose a smart nutrition plan that can work for you. Click here for more Body Sense posts.

First Offender: The Cabbage-Soup Diet

This fad diet has a devoted following and its own creepy website where you can download an e-book that provides you with “tips on how to survive the full 7 days on the cabbage soup diet.” Survive? Yikes!

According to the health information site WebMD, dieters who follow the cabbage-soup diet’s nutritional guidelines are encouraged to eat a bland, chunky soup that consists of cabbage and other vegetables, along with fruit, a few servings of brown rice, and plenty of water. This diet is only supposed to be followed for 1 week at a time and promises 10 pounds of weight loss.

Although the allure of losing 10 pounds in such a short amount of time may be tempting, WebMD (and anyone who has taste buds) strongly advises against this diet. It doesn’t provide a wide range of vitamins and minerals, and the number of calories consumed while on it is so low that fainting, dizziness, and lethargy are common side effects.

So unless you want to put your health at risk and feel like a wilted bag of coleslaw, this diet is not for you.

Second Offender: The hCG Diet

Although not as well-known as the cabbage-soup diet, this nutritional nightmare has garnered media attention in recent months because it promises weight loss of up to 30 pounds in 30 days.

Diet participants consume less than 500 calories per day while receiving injections of hCG (human chorionic gonadotrophin), a hormone naturally secreted by women’s bodies during pregnancy. The hormone is supposed to make dieters feel less hungry even though they’re eating very little.

It’s suspected that the hormone causes a nonpregnant woman’s body to dip into its fat reserves to find fuel for metabolic functions, such as maintaining a constant heartbeat. The body’s consumption of its fat reserves is supposed to lead to rapid weight loss, but it can also lead to an unhealthy alteration to the body’s metabolism and liver function.

If this diet sounds like sketchy pseudoscience, that’s because it is. Its effects on men haven’t been studied, but it’s probably risky for both genders and should definitely be avoided.

Third Offender: The Baby-Food Diet

Celebrities such as Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston are rumored to have used this diet to lose weight before movie shoots, and it’s become popular because of its deceptively simple nutrition plan.

Advocates for this diet explain that baby food is safe to eat because it’s mainly made of fruits and vegetables and it contains pure nutrients. While this may be true, baby food is in no way considered an acceptable substitute for all of the fiber and flavors we get by consuming real food. Eating enough small jars of baby food to feel full will get expensive and will probably still mean consuming at least 1,200 calories per day, which will cause weight loss to be gradual instead of rapid.

You may be able to lose weight on this diet, but you’ll gain it back once you start to eat normally again. This diet isn’t worth your time or money, especially when there are plenty of ways to lose weight that are safer and more enjoyable.

Smarter Choices, Better Results

One of the best ways to start losing weight is by keeping track of the number of calories you currently consume. There are many apps for iPads and smartphones that can help you keep a diary of your diet and exercise habits ‒ my favorite one for the iPad is called Calorie Counter. These apps are useful because they link into the websites for many popular restaurant chains and provide nutritional data for everything from Chili’s boneless wings to Cracker Barrel’s biscuits. They also provide estimates for the number of calories in common foods such as yogurt and cheese.

If you don’t have a smartphone, keeping a paper journal of the foods you eat can be just as effective. Simply knowing that you will have to admit on paper to eating 6 Oreos or a whole basket of fries can be a deterrent, and seeing your daily diet written out can help you to recognize days of the week or times of the month when it’s difficult for you to eat healthfully. By being realistic about the number of calories and types of foods you consume, it will be easier for you to make changes, such as replacing whole milk with skim milk and eating a sandwich on one slice of bread instead of two.

Exercise is my personal favorite way to lose weight and maintain physique because it can be fun (a lot more fun than eating endless mounds of cabbage!) and can have physical as well as emotional benefits. Adding a few hours of strength training or fitness classes to your weekly schedule may not cause you to lose 30 pounds in 30 days, but it’s much safer than any fad diet and can also promote heart health and longevity.

What do you think, readers? Are there any other risky fad diets that we should be on the lookout for? Send me your feedback at carmagna@stetson.edu! Click here for more Body Sense posts. Share this post by using the buttons below.