American College Health Association's Standards Of Practice For Health Promotion Encourages Healthy Learning Environments At Colleges And Universities
BALTIMORE, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The American College Health Association (ACHA) has released a revised edition of its "Standards of Practice for Health Promotion in Higher Education," guidelines designed to assist the wide range of professionals who work to enhance the health of the nation's 15.3 million college students.
"The impact of these Standards is far reaching, right into the core of the academic mission of higher education," says Patricia Fabiano, co-chair of the ACHA committee that developed the Standards. Co-chair Susan Kennedy adds, "Health promotion is increasingly being viewed as a campus-wide effort that affects student health, and thus academic progress, guiding initiatives and policies on topics such as alcohol abuse and sexual assault." In addition, as students and parents become more knowledgeable about student life, they have begun to look at campus health promotion as a significant contributor to the college experience.
The 2004 edition of the Standards provides six measurable guidelines for enhancing the quality of health promotion programs at colleges and universities. For the individual practitioner, the Standards are designed to guide daily efforts, assess individual skills and capacities, and assist in decisions to improve practice through professional development. In practical terms, health promotion and other campus professionals can use the Standards for strategic planning, and professional development.
Health promotion programs on campuses serve the mission of higher education by supporting students and creating a healthy learning environment. The Standards recognize that professionals who affect student health work not only in campus health services, but also in residence life, campus recreation, and other student affairs departments. These health educators, nurses, physicians, counselors, faculty, and staff can be a dominant influence on students' college years.
ACHA, the nation's principal advocate and leadership organization for college and university health, has more than 900 institutional members and 2,400 individual members who provide and support the delivery of health care and prevention and wellness services for the nation's college students. Ongoing efforts such as the Standards and the association's premier survey tool, the National College Health Assessment (NCHA), help ACHA advocate for student health by integrating the critical role of college health into the mission of higher education. To view the Standards, visit the ACHA website at http://www.acha.org/.
American College Health AssociationCONTACT: Sharon Fisher, American College Health Association,+1-410-859-1500, sfisher@acha.org
Web site: http://www.acha.org/