Can We Make the Collegiate Personal Health Course More Relevant and Applicable?

Background: Many institutions offer introductory personal health courses to fulfill a general requirement; however, gaps may exist regarding health education and information students receive and what they find relevant to their lives. Purpose: Identification of topics of salience/relevance to college students in introductory personal health courses, including delivery improvement recommendations. Methods: We interviewed students (ages 18-25) who completed an introductory personal health course. MAXQDA (c) was used for organizing codes and themes responsive to research questions. Results: Emergent themes related to mental health, exercise, nutrition, stress, sexual health, and alcohol substance use were uncovered. Students preferred interactive learning and harm reduction approaches to passive learning. Discussion: A disconnect exists between students' interests and what is taught. Formats for presenting topics alienated students, making them feel judged if pursuing questions. The gap between the product desired and that delivered occurred across delivery platforms, syllabi, and textbooks. Translation to Health Education Practice: We heard praise for examples of active, skills-based learning. Students were eager to improve content and delivery and enumerated examples of how to make courses more relevant and applicable. Instructors may need to be better prepared in content, pedagogy, and health-based philosophy to accommodate the diverse student population at collegiate institutions. A AJHE Self-Study quiz is online for this article via the SHAPE America Online Institute (SAOI) http://portal.shapeamerica.org/trn-Webinars.