Gallery Presentation International Positive Psychology Association 7th IPPA World Congress 2021

Excellent health and the post-secondary student:  Understanding how students flourish (#183)

Sonya L Flessati 1 , Janet Miller 1
  1. Mount Royal University, Calgary, ALBERTA, Canada

Background

Typical “university” or “college” years coincide with the time in life when we are most vulnerable to developing mental health issues. While there is much written about how students struggle to flourish, little is written about the exemplars of health. The intention of this study is to examine what students with “excellent” health are doing that is distinct from their peers. To that end, we will present findings from the 2019 Canadian National College Health Assessment (NCHA). The NCHA survey examines students’ health and wellness behaviours, perceptions, and habits. The Canadian version also includes items from Corey Keyes’ Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF).

Hypotheses/Research Questions

We speculate that students who self-report as having “excellent“ overall health will have distinct health and wellness profiles (behaviours, perceptions, and habits) as compared to those reporting “very good” overall health. We expect that excellent health is more closely associated with positive coping strategies than severity or number of stressors. 

Sample Characteristics and Sample Size

Our sample includes 55,284 students from 58 Canadian post-secondary institutions who completed the NCHA in Spring 2019.

Design

Using a combination of t-tests and ANOVAs, we will be looking at differences between student groups across health and wellness-related behaviours, beliefs, and attitudes as measured by the NCHA.

Results

Our analyses will be completed in the Winter of 2021.

Scientific Contribution

An improved understanding of the features of students with excellent health may be used to create counselling or health-related programming at post-secondary institutions. Programming informed by data presents opportunities for students to learn about strategies, interventions, behaviours and attitudes that promote a state of flourishing. Knowledge, recommendations and programming have the potential to impact individuals at a time in their lives when they are most vulnerable to developing a significant mental health diagnosis.

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  • Keywords: Coping and Emotion Regulation, Education, Health and Medicine, Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth, Strengths