Health Promotion International, Vol. 18, No. 2, 107-113,
June 2003
© Oxford University Press 2003
Beijing health promoting universities: practice and evaluation
Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, 1Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, 2Beijing Municipal Education Committee and 3UNICEF Beijing, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
Address for correspondence: Tian Xiangyang, Health Education Institute, Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, No. 16, Hepingli Zhongjie, Beijing 100013, China E-mail: hpoff{at}sohu.com
The aims of this study were to create a health promoting university within the framework of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. Strategies included reforming and issuing healthy policies, creating a healthy physical and social environment, developing personal health skills, reorienting the health services, and implementing intervention activities. To evaluate the study, 180 students and 120 teaching/administrative staff were sampled for an in-depth interview with open-ended questions administered 1 year after the launch of the project. To assess health knowledge and behavior, 2500 students were sampled to answer a questionnaire, both prior to and following project implementation. With respect to policies, environment and health services, 166 students and 117 teaching and administrative staff participated in the in-depth interview. Approximately three-quarters (75.90%) of university students considered that the physical environment of the campus had improved significantly and 83.73% reported they had a good social environment. All university administration departments made commitments to health promotion. Consultations on mental health, smoking cessation and STD/AIDS prevention were provided all year round. Health education was included in a curriculum as a selective course with 1–2 credits. Almost two-thirds (60.66%) of teaching/administrative staff reported that they had had a yearly physical examination. In the final stages of the research, significantly more college students reported improved mental health (38.25% compared with 17.93% at baseline) (p < 0.01) and more were knowledgeable about transmission of STDs/AIDS (57.00/35.50% compared with 51.66/28.20% at baseline, respectively) (p < 0.01). Significantly less regular smokers were found (45% compared with 15.81% at baseline) (p < 0.01). However, there was a significant increase in high-fat food intake (44.81% compared with 49.50%) (p < 0.01) and pre-marital sex (5.11% compared with 14.00%), and a significant decrease in physical exercise participation (29.41% compared with 23.50%) (p < 0.01). As a health promotion setting, the university community can benefit greatly from implementing health promotion campaigns based on the principles of the Ottawa Charter.
Key words: evaluation; health promotion; university
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  Y.-M. Huang, H.-P. Wang, Y.-H. K. Yang, S.-J. Lin, H.-W. Lin, C.-S. Chen, and F.-L. L. Wu Effects of a National Health Education Program on the Medication Knowledge of the Public in Taiwan Ann. Pharmacother., January 1, 2006; 40(1): 102 - 108. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|