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National College Health Assessment

About

The American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (NCHA) is a nationally recognized research survey that collects precise data about students' health habits, behaviors, and perceptions.

We uphold  the Standards of Practice of Health Promotion in Higher Education by conducting population-based assessments in order to gather information on the health behaviors of our students as well as their perceptions about related college health topics. The data collected from this biennial survey allows the Center for Student Well-Being  to plan, develop, implement, and evaluate programs, initiatives, campaigns, and policies that are driven by ßÙßÇÂþ»­ student feedback.

While other health surveys of college students cover a single topic area, the NCHA maps the widest range of health issues:
• Alcohol, tobacco and other drug use
• Sexual health
• Weight, nutrition, and exercise
• Mental health
• Personal safety and violence

In addition, the survey collects data on smoking habits, contraception use, mental health issues, relationship difficulties, sexual behaviors, exercise habits, preventive health practices, and perceptions of drug and alcohol use.

The survey helps to:

• Identify the most common health and behavior risks affecting students' academic performance.
• Design evidence-based health promotion programs with targeted educational and environmental initiatives.
• Create social norms marketing campaigns by comparing students' actual behaviors to their perceptions about peer behavior.
• Allocate monetary and staffing resources based upon defined needs.
• Provide needs assessment data for campus and community task forces on sexual assault, alcohol use, eating disorders, etc.
• Have readily available graphs and data for policy discussions and presentations with faculty, staff, administration, and board members.
• Impact the campus culture by opening a dialogue about health with students and staff.
• Develop proposals to secure grant funding to expand or develop programs.
• Evaluates programming efforts by conducting repeat administrations of the survey.

For more information on the NCHA in general please see the ACHA-NCHA .