Projects
Healthy Studies at THWS
The students’ needs for health-promoting offers - incl. topics like stress, test anxiety and depression - is substantial and has even increased during the pandemic.
The Project Healthy Studies is aimed at supporting students preventively by providing students with basic health counsellingand providing them with suitable offers. For this, two central contacts, one in Würzburg and one in Schweinfurt, were established to support students with their health questions. AOK Bayern initially supported and financed the project for a period of two years (2022-2024). Following on from this, new project funding has now been promised for a further three years: Health Literacy in Higher Education (2024-2027).
Services:
- Solution-oriented brief consultations of students based on a holistic approach to health (physical, mental and social)
- Referral to THWS-internal contacts and regional offers
- Organisation of health-related events and group programmes
- THWS-internal network (for example with academic counsellors)
- Participatory and target-oriented adaptation of the offer to best suit students’ needs
- Quality management by process-related evaluation
Aims:
- Reduction in student stress levels by direct contact persons and needs-oriented referral
- Higher level of information and security of lecturers and academic counsellors
- Reduced health-related difficulties with studies by resource-oriented prevention
Health Literacy in Higher Education
Since March 2024, AOK Bayern has been supporting the "Health literacy during studies" project at THWS for the next three years. This project includes group courses and digital information services to support students in Würzburg and Schweinfurt in promoting their health.
The project also focused in particular on students for whom access to health services is more difficult. These could be international students, for example.
The prevention project aims to help students find, evaluate and make targeted use of digital health services, among other things, in order to support healthy behavior and make independent decisions in this area. This is accompanied by preventative group offers. Indications as to which student groups have a particular need for this support have already been gained during the establishment of student health management at THWS. The project aims to specifically address the needs of international students, students with parenting and care responsibilities or with chronic illnesses, among others.
Long-term goals:
- Reducing stress and promoting resilience
- Prevention of chronic, mental and psychosomatic illnesses
- Reduction of drop-outs due to illness
Student survey 2022
In a recent university-wide student survey, Student Health Management identified the health-related needs and wishes of students as well as their awareness of existing health-promoting measures.
Results:
From the students' point of view, priority should be given to implementing offers in the areas of stress and mental stress at the university. In addition, exercise and sports activities are most frequently requested by students. International students and students at the Schweinfurt location indicated a particularly high need for advice and consider some areas of health to be more relevant to their studies than other students; this applies above all to dealing with exam anxiety and physical complaints.
Poster award:
The results of the student survey were presented in the form of a poster at the symposium "Health literacy - between science and practice" at Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts and were awarded first prize in the scientific category.
Publication:
The article on the student survey entitled "What needs do students have with regard to health-promoting measures and which are they aware of? A survey at two university locations" was published in the journal "Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung" in April 2023.
Publication of the article on the student survey (in "Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung")