Tag Archives: students

April Can Be the Cruelest Month

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Spring is a time of year when students may be at higher risk for stress and suicide.

The spring semester brings increased academic pressure in the form of final papers, final exams, and final grades. Students approaching graduation may worry about finding jobs, getting into graduate programs, and losing friends as they head their separate ways.

Drugs and alcohol can add to the dangers of spring. Some students drink or take drugs in an attempt to cope with stress. Others will try “study drugs” in the hope of improving their performance on exams, auditions, and job interviews. But using these drugs can trigger irrational behavior in people for whom they haven’t been prescribed, and drugs and alcohol are frequently involved in suicide attempts.

MyStudentBody’s Student Center has information for students on managing stress, the risks of study drugs and self-medication. We’ve also recently updated entries on coping with depression and what to do about suicidal thoughts—your own or someone else’s. We also have information for campus administrators on intervention programming for depression and suicide.

To access the information, go to www.mystudentbody.com, login with your username and password, and click on the Student Center tab at the top of the page.

Additional questions? Contact us.

Photo credit: http://pnhw.psychiatryonline.org/content/45/16/7.1.full

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Achieve a 90% Response Rate to Your Alcohol & Drug Survey

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The typical response rate for college alcohol and drug surveys is somewhere between 25 and 35%. But at Stetson University, more than 90% of the freshman class completes the MyStudentBody Essentials course—even though it’s not mandatory. What strategy produces those results?

The answer is: lots of strategies – and the key is to use more than one.

Working with Stetson’s Director of Health Education and Wellness, Lynn Stadelman, MyStudentBody product coordinator Tyler Achilles determined four elements that, used together, encourage the best possible response rate. “Most of these strategies are things prevention professionals are already doing. We found that what was most important was to do all of these things,” Achilles explained. “But we also found some small tweaks that could really improve a strategy’s effectiveness.” Some examples:

1) Advance notification: Sending advance notification by [snail] mail is especially useful in getting students to take Web-based surveys. It literally gives more weight to the request. Achilles notes it’s also an opportunity to send an incentive.

2) Incentives: Surprisingly, offering a guaranteed low-cost incentive—such as a free soda at the college café—to everyone who takes your survey raises response rates more effectively than offering a chance at a higher-value prize that only a few will win.

3) Reminders: The magic number for emailed reminders turns out to be three. After that, reminders don’t generate much further response, and may start to seem intrusive.

4) Sharing the results: Students want to know how their responses contribute to shaping policy; they also want to see how their answers compare to those of their peers. Knowing they’ll see group results increases student participation.

To see more of Achilles and Stadelman’s advice, view the poster they presented in January at NASPA’s Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention and Intervention Conference in Atlanta.

Heads Up: Changes Coming to MyStudentBody!

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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:

  1. MyStudentBody’s wellness components, which aren’t part of the Essentials or Student Conduct courses, are liked, but not used extensively with students.
  2. Half of administrators found the wellness areas “very valuable,” but only 35% thought they were “very popular” with students.
  3. More than 70% agreed that, “though the wellness sites seem useful, we rarely use them.”
  4. 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].

Overheard On Campus: What Alcohol-Free Activities Can College Students Do on Halloween?

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Contributed by Melissa Kelley, MS, CHES

Kudos to you for deciding to avoid a booze-infused Halloween this year. There are many ways to make a sober Halloween a fun one.

Scare Some Kids

Since Halloween is pretty popular for kids, consider contacting a local organization that works with youth to help plan a haunted house or Halloween party that’s safe, fun, and of course, alcohol-free. Most organizations look for volunteers that can dress up, help with activities, and make the event fun for kids.

Scare Some Friends

If you’re looking for something to do with your own friends, plan a costume contest or Halloween fashion show. You can also contact your Student Activities Office about doing a haunted event on campus. Consider turning your residence hall into a haunted hall!  It might be fun for students to ‘trick-or-treat’ in your dorm and go door-to-door, just like when you were kids. It’s easy and pretty inexpensive to decorate.  You can even make it a contest, where the best decorated floor wins a pizza party or ice cream social, etc. Throw in a strobe light or black light for effect and you have instant Halloween! You also can’t go wrong with a scary movie fright fest, either at the theater or in your dorm room. You never know, you might just start a new sober Halloween trend on campus!

Social Intelligence: Returning home from college for the summer

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Contributed by Amanda Anastasio, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.

Now that you have fully adjusted to the increased freedom, friend time, fast food, work and responsibility at college, you face another big change – returning home for the summer! Your attitude about change impacts the way you perceive your situation, and in turn, how you manage it. So keep a positive mind set, you can handle this!

While some may have great relationships with parents and family back at home, others may be dreading the inevitable clash that occurs when you have different expectations than your parents about how the summer will go.

Mother and daughter washing dishes together

Photo credit: © Leah Warkentin/Design Pics/Corbis

Tips for livin’ at home

  • If you are going to be living at home, you have to contribute.  During the school year you cleaned up your dorm room, and did your laundry, right? (Well let’s hope you did for your roommate’s sake….) So you should continue to take this initiative while at home. In fact, do more than what is expected of you; your parents will recognize your contribution and appreciate your effort, which will help grow the relationship and send a message of independence.
  • Get a job. Lying on the couch will get old, and you will be bored out of your mind. Filling your time with a job, and getting paid is a great way to experience the working world, make new friends, and again, show your parents that you are stepping up and being an adult. The sooner they see you as an adult, the faster they will treat you as one.
  • Talk with your parents up front about curfew, friends, romantic partners coming to visit – or anything you think might cause tension. Ask them what they want or need in order to come to a compromise. Try to see their point of view; if you hear them out, chances are they will be more willing to hear you out.

In addition to your parent dilemma, you made a whole new group of friends while at college, who, for the most part, are now absent for the summer months. How do you keep up these important relationships while managing old high school friends?

Maintaining and sustaining lasting and healthy relationships

Studies have shown that supportive friends allow us to live longer and better lives. You may feel you have changed since going to college, and some of your old friends feel distant. Recognize and accept if there are some people with whom you now have evolving interests from or life goals. An important aspect of maturing is choosing your own circle of friends, people who support you and make you feel good about yourself.

  • For the ladies: There is an added benefit for you! Researchers suspect that women respond and alleviate stress differently from men because of the hormone oxytocin that is releasedand the fact that estrogen works to enhance it. This encourages women to “tend and befriend” instead of the expected “fight or flight” as suggested by previous research. Biologically, women who focus on friendships and taking care of each other can better control their stress levels and stay calmer during hard times.

    Girl talking on a cell phone, smiling

    Photo credit: Richard X. Thripp

With all these health benefits, you can’t afford not to keep your friends close!

Best ways to stay connected to your friends over the summer

  • Call them. A quick chat is more personal than a text message. I know it’s easier to text but when you make time to actually pick up a phone you send a message that this person is important to you and you want to stay a part of their life. Let your buds know they are worth the time and effort!
  • Send pictures, private jokes, videos, articles, and anything that shows them you know who they are and think of them often. This can help keep you reminded of why you enjoy each other and keep the relationship fresh.
  • Plan visits. The best way to keep relationships healthy and strong is regular contact, over the phone and face time! Meet somewhere halfway between the two of you, or if they are just too far, set up a Skype account to make sure you see their mug a few times over the summer!

How do you manage parents and keep up with friends during the summer? Write a comment below.

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