Assessment and evaluation are at the core of our work. We ground our initiatives and programs in research and evaluation that ensure these efforts are needed, relevant, and effective. In addition to ongoing assessment of our various initiatives, we administer several surveys to inform our health promotion efforts. The goal of collecting this data is to gain a profile of health habits, behaviors, perceptions, and trends among Lehigh students and to benchmark against national data.
The American College Health Association - National College Health Assessment III
The ACHA-NCHA II is a nationally recognized research survey that assesses a range of health issues among college students, including:
- Alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use
- Sexual health
- Weight, nutrition, and exercise
- Sleep
- Mental health
- Personal safety and violence
- Campus-specific questions.
Undergraduate and graduate students are randomly selected to participate in this confidential, web-based survey. The survey is typically administered every three years.
For more information about the ACHA-NCHA III, including access to downloadable national datasets, click here.
Life at Lehigh: Community and Well-Being Survey
Formally the Alcohol Use and Social Options Survey, HAPS partners with Student Affairs Research and Assessment to administer the Life at Lehigh Community and Well-Being Survey. This survey was first developed in 2011 as a result of Lehigh participation in the National College Health Improvement Project (NCHIP). For the 2023-2024 academic year, the undergraduate class received an invitation to complete the survey in the fall semester.
Some recent changes to the survey include a number of established scales including:
- Diener Flourishing Scale – Psychological Well-Being (PWB)
- UCLA Three-Item Loneliness Scale (Hughes, et. al. 2004)
- PHQ-4: The Four-Item Patient Health Questionaire For Anxiety and Depression
- Sense of Community Scale developed by Hoffman, Richmond, Morrow, and Salomone (2003)
Data from the Life at Lehigh: Community & Well-being Survey Report AY22-23 can be found here. For more information on these surveys or to request data from either of these surveys please reach out to inhaps@lehigh.edu or mam6@lehigh.edu
Photovoice Project
In Spring 2023, Peer Health Advisors participated in a PhotoVoice Project, answering the question: “What feels well or unwell in the Lehigh University community?” Students used photographic images to document and reflect on the needs and assets of the Lehigh community from their own point of view. Students also promote dialogue about salient community issues through group discussion of photographs and promote social change by communicating issues of both concern and pride to policymakers and society at large (Stack et al., 2004). This was done at a Photovoice Exhibit which was open to the Lehigh community.
