Beliefs, mental health, healthy lifestyle behaviors and coping strategies of college faculty and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: To assess faculty and staff beliefs about returning to campus as well as their mental health and healthy lifestyle behaviors. Participants: Faculty and staff at a large Mid-west public land-grant university. Methods: A survey was emailed to a random sample of faculty and staff (N = 6,000 faculty; N = 6,000 staff). Results: Response rate was 35.6% for faculty (n = 2,138) and 37.8% (n = 2,226) for staff. Participants who were working from home (>60%) had less confidence about returning to campus safely than those who had been working on campus. Eighteen to 27% of faculty and 25%-31% of staff met the cutoff for clinical anxiety and the rates of depression were 4.4%-8.3% and 9.7%-10.0% respectively. Conclusion: Institutions of higher education must build wellness cultures and accelerate access to mental health services, which should be evidence-based and include a focus on promoting and maintaining overall wellness.

Manager Support for Wellness Champions: A Case Study for Consideration and Practice Implications.

BACKGROUND: Wellness champion networks are deemed an important component to workplace wellness programs. By encouraging colleagues to engage in healthy behaviors, champions can help improve employee health and well-being outcomes, while reducing healthcare costs and increasing productivity. However, little evidence exists regarding factors that impact the effectiveness of a wellness champion. This study examined the relationship between employee engagement in a workplace wellness champion program and the direct manager's support of the wellness champion role. METHODS: A descriptive study was conducted with a 15-item cross-sectional survey that was developed and disseminated to 470 wellness champions at a large academic institution. Survey questions addressed manager/supervisor support for the wellness champion, manager/supervisor support for faculty and staff direct reports participating in wellness activities, and demographic questions. FINDINGS: One hundred and ninety-nine (42%) wellness champions responded to the survey and responded to at least half of the questions. Wellness champions who reported a high level of manager support for their role were more likely to have high levels of engagement in communicating wellness initiatives (p = .0004), motivating and encouraging colleagues (p < .0001), and planning wellness activities (p = .04). CONCLUSION/APPLICATION TO PRACTICE: Findings suggested that support wellness champions received from direct managers was a key determinant to their level of engagement in efforts to improve their colleagues' health and well-being. As employers desire to impact the health and productivity of their employees and generate cost-savings, manager support of wellness champions is necessary to facilitate employee engagement in workplace wellness champion programs.

Implementation of a Smoking Cessation e-Learning Education Program for Oncology Clinic Healthcare Providers: Evaluation With Implications for Evidence-Based Practice.

BACKGROUND: Continued smoking after a cancer diagnosis increases the risk for treatment complications, primary cancer recurrence, and secondary malignancy development, while also reducing treatment efficacy, survival, and overall health. The lack of formal evidence-based smoking cessation education programs for oncology healthcare providers is a barrier to smoking cessation practices. PURPOSE: To evaluate the use of an evidence-based, smoking cessation e-learning education program for oncology healthcare providers. METHODS: A single group, pre- and post-test, nonexperimental design was used in this evidence-based quality improvement project. To assess the provider's knowledge in smoking cessation, a baseline assessment, a post-test, and an online survey were completed by the providers. A telephone survey was conducted to assess the patients' perception of cessation services received. RESULTS: The healthcare providers' (N = 58) test scores on smoking cessation knowledge increased significantly (p < .0001) after completing the e-learning education program. A majority of the providers reported that the education program increased their confidence (86%) in successfully helping the patient to quit smoking and agreed to make smoking cessation a priority (89%) in their practice. A majority of the patients (85%) were satisfied or extremely satisfied with the smoking cessation services received. Many patients (71%) self-reported having tried to quit smoking. CONCLUSION: An evidence-based e-learning education program is effective in increasing oncology healthcare providers' knowledge and confidence in tobacco dependence treatment practices. The program also has a positive impact on oncology patients' perception of cessation services received. LINKING EVIDENCE TO ACTION: A self-paced e-learning program is a feasible and effective way to educate healthcare providers in smoking cessation treatment. Incorporating evidence-based tobacco dependence treatment into their daily oncology practice is warranted.

Heart checks in college-aged students link poor sleep to cardiovascular risk.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the relationships between the cardiovascular health, lifestyle behaviors, and lifestyle beliefs among college-aged students. PARTICIPANTS: Seven hundred and twenty-nine college-aged students participated between October 2016 and April 2017. METHODS: Heart checks, consisting of a cross-sectional survey and biometric screening, were conducted on a large Midwestern university campus. RESULTS: A small proportion of students (24.5%) engaged in the recommended 150+ minutes of physical activity per week and 7.9% consumed 5+ servings of fruit/vegetables daily. Half (49.6%) slept 7 hours or less per night. Biometric screenings found that 26.4% of the students had high stress, 31.9% were overweight or obese, and 17.3% had prehypertension or hypertension. Less sleep was significantly associated with higher risks of being stressed, being overweight/obese, and having elevated blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Early detection, treatment, and education is critical to identify individuals at risk for cardiovascular disease and to promote healthy lifestyle changes before heart disease develops or progresses.

Psychometric Properties of the Perceived Wellness Culture and Environment Support Scale.

OBJECTIVE: This study reports on the psychometric properties of the 11-item Perceived Wellness Culture and Environment Support Scale (PWCESS) and its relationship with employee healthy lifestyle beliefs and behaviors. METHODS: Faculty and staff (N = 3959) at a large public university in the United States mid-west completed the PWCESS along with healthy lifestyle beliefs and behaviors scales. Data were randomly split into 2 halves to explore the PWCESS' validity and reliability and the second half to confirm findings. RESULTS: Principal components analysis indicated a unidimensional construct. The PWCESS was positively related to healthy lifestyle beliefs and behaviors supporting the scale's validity. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the unidimensional construct (Cronbach's α = .92). CONCLUSION: Strong evidence supports the validity and reliability of the PWCESS. Future use of this scale could guide workplace intervention strategies to improve organizational wellness culture and employee health outcomes.

Relationships Among Perceived Wellness Culture, Healthy Lifestyle Beliefs, and Healthy Behaviors in University Faculty and Staff: Implications for Practice and Future Research.

Identifying key factors influencing healthy lifestyle behaviors in university faculty and staff is critical in designing interventions to improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs. A descriptive study was conducted with 3,959 faculty and staff at a Midwestern, U.S. University. Key measures included perceived worksite culture, healthy lifestyle beliefs, and healthy lifestyle behaviors. Healthy lifestyle beliefs were strongly positively associated with healthy lifestyle behaviors. Regression analyses demonstrated positive healthy lifestyle behaviors based upon sex (female, Std. ß = .068, p < .001) and role (faculty, Std. ß = .059, p < .001) and a negative effect of race (African Americans, Std. ß = -.059, p < .001). The positive effect of perceived wellness culture on healthy lifestyle behaviors was completely mediated by healthy lifestyle beliefs. Interventions to enhance perceived wellness culture and healthy lifestyle beliefs should result in healthier behaviors and improved health outcomes.

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effects of the COPE Online Cognitive-Behavioral Skill-Building Program on Mental Health Outcomes and Academic Performance in Freshmen College Students: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study.

PROBLEM: Despite the increasing prevalence of mental health disorders in university students, few receive needed evidence-based treatment. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and preliminary effects of a seven-session online cognitive-behavioral skill-building intervention (i.e., COPE, Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment) versus a comparison group on their anxiety, depressive symptoms, and grade performance. METHODS: A randomized controlled pilot study was conducted from September 2012 to May 2013 with 121 college freshmen enrolled in a required one credit survey course. FINDINGS: Although there were no significant differences in anxiety and depressive symptoms between the groups, only COPE students with an elevated level of anxiety at baseline had a significant decline in symptoms. Grade point average was higher in COPE versus comparison students. Evaluations indicated that COPE was a positive experience for students. CONCLUSIONS: COPE is a promising brief intervention that can be integrated effectively into a required freshman course.