Gesundheitsfördernde Hochschulen

Impulse zur Stärkung der Gesundheitsförderung an Hochschulen

Hintergrund

Das Präventionsgesetz verpflichtet seit 2015 die Sozialversicherungsträger die Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung in der Lebenswelt Hochschule insbesondere für Studierende durch Maßnahmen und Strukturbildung inhaltlich und finanziell zu unterstützen. Der bundesweite Arbeitskreis Gesundheitsfördernde Hochschulen hat sich an diesen Prozessen beteiligt und auf Basis 5‑jähriger Erfahrungen Bilanz gezogen. Das darauf basierende Strategiepapier mit den Handlungsempfehlungen wird in Auszügen vorgestellt.

Ziel

Der Beitrag zielt darauf ab, die komplexen Strukturen und Entwicklungen im Kontext des Präventionsgesetzes darzulegen und die an der Schnittstelle Hochschule noch nicht umgesetzten Vorgaben aufzuzeigen. Im Fokus steht die Realisierung der erarbeiteten Handlungsempfehlungen auf Ebene der Bundesländer und die gezielte Ansprache der verantwortlichen Akteure einschließlich der Hochschulen und Studierendenwerke.

Material und Methoden

Aus amtlichen Statistiken (Hochschulstatistik, Finanzergebnisse der Gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung) sowie mit einer literatur- und internetbasierten Bestandsaufnahme werden die Handlungsempfehlungen der „Gesundheitsförderungsstrategie 2019–2022 für Hochschulen“ (Stand: Januar 2020) aktualisiert.

Ergebnisse und Fazit

Die Analyse zur Umsetzung des Präventionsgesetzes zeigt für die Lebenswelt Hochschulen eine Reihe von bisher nicht realisierten Vorgaben. Dazu gehören die fehlende Zusammenarbeit der Sozialversicherungsträger und die Realisierung der gemeinsam beschlossenen Handlungsfelder (z. B. Gesundheitskompetenz) für Studierende. Auf Ebene der 16 Bundesländer ist Hochschule als Lebenswelt in den Landesrahmenvereinbarungen nicht berücksichtigt worden. Eine Ursache ist die fehlende Einordnung der jungen Erwachsenen in eine eigene Lebensphase: „Gesund in Ausbildung und Studium“.

[Prevention and Health Promotion during Studies: Suggestions for an Interdisciplinary Curriculum in Medicine and Educational Science]

In academic medicine, the growing importance of disease prevention and health promotion poses new challenges. Besides diseases, the focus must also be on health resources and competences in order to promote health and to prevent diseases or their prolonged manifestation. These aspects must already be integrated into medical education in order to equip future professionals. With the aim of integrating health promotion and disease prevention more strongly in the curriculum and strengthening the interdisciplinary collaboration between physicians and other health care professionals, a prototypical longitudinal model curriculum is being developed for students of medicine and educational science with a focus on health pedagogy at Augsburg University. Students learn about health promotion strategies in the University setting, gain initial interdisciplinary experience and then plan and implement health promotion initiatives for their fellow students in smaller projects as peers. The intention is to make the university setting more health-promoting for as well as by students.The model curriculum is intended to provide other university locations with "good practice" examples that can then be locally adapted and integrated into the respective curricula.

Exploring loneliness and students’ sense of coherence (S-SoC) in the university setting

Background. Loneliness is a prevalent global public health issue, and this topic is also common among university students. From a health-related, resource-oriented approach like the salutogenic model, loneliness can be interpreted as a potential stressor. To cope effectively with this stressor, a strong Sense of Coherence is needed to mobilize resources like social support. Interventions to promote health and wellbeing within a university setting should include a salutogenic focus. However, currently, research regarding salutogenesis within the higher education setting is lacking. Therefore, this study aims to make the first attempt to explore the relation between loneliness and the Students' Sense of Coherence (S-SoC) among university students. Methods. An online questionnaire was sent out to all university students from the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (CUAS), Austria. The online questionnaire was completed by 584 students (response rate of 28.86 %); 67.3% were female, and the average age was 25.16 years ( SD = 6.27 years). Full-time students made up 75.6% of the sample, and 84.6% were in a Bachelor's degree program. The S-SoC and the sub-scales comprehensibility, meaningfulness and manageability were measured by using the valid S-SoC scale (Brunner et al., 2009). Social and emotional loneliness was measured by using the six-item De Jong Gierveld loneliness scale (Jong Gierveld & van Tilburg, 2006). Spearman correlations and Kruskal-Wallis H-tests were computed among all loneliness and S-SoC sub-scales and other variables (e.g., age, sex...). Furthermore, a graphical model was used to show structural relationships between loneliness and S-SoC and control variables. Results. The results showed that students feeling moderate or severe general loneliness had lower S-SoC scores than students feeling low or not general lonely. Manageability was a pivotal point in this model, as it was inversely proportional to both measures of loneliness. Perceived social loneliness was reported most by men and part-time students. Conclusion. In order to fulfill study-related demands, students activate appropriate resources (e.g., social support), which corresponds to low social and emotional loneliness. However, in the development of health promoting interventions against loneliness among students, it would be necessary to consider sex and mode of study and to address health needs and problems with a salutogenic focus.