NCHA @ UW

The ACHA-NCHA III is a nationally recognized research survey that can assist colleges and universities in collecting precise data about their students’ health habits, behaviors, and perceptions.

College students are a diverse yet distinct population with specific health risks and needs. Having current, relevant data about our students’ health can help us to enhance campus-wide health promotion and prevention services as well as overall programs and resources.

ACHA-NCHA III survey questions ask about students’ health habits, behaviors, and perceptions around the following topics:

• Alcohol, tobacco, and other drug

• Sexual health

• Weight, nutrition, and exercise

• Mental health

• Personal safety and violence

• Food insecurity and homelessness

YES! Student emails and any other identifiers are not linked with any survey responses. UW only receives institutional data and not individual respondent data. ACHA will only gather first names and email addresses of students who complete the survey so they can assist us in selecting winners of any incentives. All student information is destroyed by ACHA before the data is sent to our institution.

Your survey responses influence services, programs, and resources offered at UW. Rather than providing students with things that do not pertain to them, we use this data to create services and programs that are personalized to the needs of UW students. Additionally, you could be the winner of our many prizes! See below for more information.

YES! 100 students will win a free coffee or donut. One student will be selected to win a $100 UW Bookstore gift card, and one winner will be selected for the grand prize of their choice between four different prize packages:

1. Cozy Pack – 1-year Headspace subscription, bean bag chair, massage gun, and a weighted blanket!

2. Tailgating Pack – Portable grill, cooler, and the game Kan Jam!

3. Nostalgia Pack – Razor scooter, light up sneakers, helmet, stickers, and completed with a dinosaur suit!

4. Music Pack – Beats speaker and Beats wireless earbuds!

With this survey data, we can:

• Identify the most common health and behavior risks affecting students' academic performance.

• Design evidence-based health promotion programs with targeted educational and environmental initiatives.

• Create social norms marketing campaigns by comparing students' actual behaviors to their perceptions about peer behavior.

• Allocate budgeting and staffing resources based upon defined needs.

• Provide needs assessment data for campus and community task forces on sexual assault, alcohol use, eating disorders, etc.

• Have readily available graphs and data for policy discussions and presentations with faculty, staff, administration, and board members.

• Impact the campus culture by opening a dialogue about health with students and staff.

• Develop proposals to secure grant funding to expand or develop programs.

• Evaluate programming efforts by conducting repeat administrations of the survey.

Unfortunately, we cannot survey every UW student. Students are selected through a random sampling that represents UW’s student population based on class standing. But do not worry! If you are looking to win some cool prizes, keep an eye on the Wellness Center’s offerings and social media accounts for additional opportunities!