Universities across the nation have since
adopted the research-backed set of questions to understand and
respond to gaps in wellness services
Twenty U.S. universities, including Butler University,
Sacramento State and The University of South Alabama are making
changes on campus in support of student physical, mental and
financial health after implementing the Student Well-being
Institutional Support Survey (SWISS). SWISS is an assessment of
schools’ wellness education and services, powered by Qualtrics
(Nasdaq: XM), the leader and creator of the experience management
category.
Butler University in Indiana used the Qualtrics XM Platform™ to
create SWISS in order to give its leaders actionable information at
the campus level about how to improve student well-being. The
assessment goes beyond simply measuring wellness. By asking
students a research-backed set of questions about their physical
health, nutrition, financial situation, mental health and sense of
belonging, it identifies specific needs across demographic groups
and reveals gaps in critical services, ranging from mental health
care to affordable food offerings.
Overall mental health has declined for college students since
the start of the pandemic, and nearly one in three (30%) say they
do not feel connected to other students. At the same time, students
are dealing with rising costs of living. Now, as college
administrators use the summer months to prepare for a new school
year with more in-person activities, they are looking to address
students’ needs for support and connection, which have grown during
two years of the pandemic.
“Education institutions need dynamic systems that can sense and
respond to the needs of students,” said Omar Garriott, global head
of education at Qualtrics. “This is especially true in this time of
rapid change. Schools that rise to the top in the coming years will
be those that not only listen to students — but really understand
and improve the experiences they are having on campus with respect
to their mental health, basic physical and financial needs and
their ongoing sense of belonging.”
Re-building a sense of belonging
Butler University developed and first administered SWISS
on its own campus in 2020, when many students were feeling
disconnected from their peers due to COVID restrictions. Findings
prompted Butler to implement multiple new programs to meet
students' needs and address social connection campus-wide.
The results revealed sophomores in particular were struggling
with COVID fatigue more than others. Butler used the data to create
residence-life programming specifically for sophomores, including
activities and social gatherings focused on helping students find
common interests and make meaningful connections.
“Our RAs noticed immediate results as students began to make new
friends,” said Shannon Mulqueen, director of residence life at
Butler. “It happened because we administered the SWISS survey and
took action based on the results.”
Prioritizing mental health
At Sacramento State, wellness is one of the school’s six
strategic initiatives, with mental health as a top priority. The
school implemented SWISS in 2022, and it showed 59% of students
said mental health concerns were a top stressor, second only to
academics (75%). Students also reported a lack of emphasis on
attending classes or workshops that would help build resilience and
grit, self compassion, mindfulness, empathy and keeping an open
mind.
“If we're trying to solve mental health issues, there's a lot of
room for advancement there,” said Kate Smith, director of student
wellness at Sacramento State. “The end goal is to use this data to
really inform our decision making as we set our strategic plan
moving forward.”
Addressing food insecurity
The University of South Alabama adopted SWISS in 2022 to
understand strengths and weaknesses related to student health. They
found a large number of students were struggling with food
insecurity, despite the school offering a food pantry with free
groceries for students in need. A third of students (33%) said they
don’t always have enough money to pay for food.
“That was pretty eye-opening,” said Brian Allred, director of
campus recreation and wellness at the University of South Alabama.
His department is launching a wellness website this summer that
will highlight food resources. “Food insecurity wasn’t even on my
radar prior to the survey, so this has impacted the direction we're
going to take.”
“You can make a big impact when you have actionable feedback to
work with, rather than vague goals to increase student well-being
by X percent,” said Bridget Yuhas, creator of SWISS and director of
student affairs assessment and strategy at Butler. “We’re happy to
see so many universities recognize the power of listening,
understanding and acting on experience data, because we all win
when students thrive.”
About Qualtrics XM for Education
With over 20 years of experience in education, Qualtrics now
serves education institutions across K-12 and Higher Education
around the world—including 99 of the top 100 business schools and
over half of the top 50 U.S. school districts—helping them
understand and improve the experiences they deliver. Qualtrics
solutions are purpose-built to help leaders in education understand
experiences across departments, take the right actions to attract
and retain students and staff, and increase engagement and success.
Qualtrics XM for Education uncovers unique insights into the
student and faculty journeys and empowers school leaders to close
experience gaps—driving increases in enrollment, retention and
graduation.
To learn more about XM for Education please visit
qualtrics.com/education
About Qualtrics
Qualtrics, the leader and creator of the experience management
(XM) category, is changing the way organizations manage and improve
the four core experiences of business—customer, employee, product
and brand. Over 16,750 organizations around the world use Qualtrics
to listen, understand and take action on experience data
(X-data™)—the beliefs, emotions and intentions that tell you why
things are happening, and what to do about it. The Qualtrics XM
Platform™ is a system of action that helps businesses attract
customers who stay longer and buy more, engage employees who build
a positive culture, develop breakthrough products people love and
build a brand people are passionate about. To learn more, please
visit qualtrics.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220628005419/en/
Erica Evans press@qualtrics.com
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