Promoting healthy learning: A participatory health promotion project with healthcare students

BACKGROUND: Health promotion is of great importance during education to prepare future health professionals for their work. Students need to cope with long periods of sitting, stress and high workload through practical training in the healthcare sector. Based on students’ experiences, we developed a project to promote healthy learning at a University of applied Sciences for Health in Germany. OBJECTIVES: The project is part of an ongoing quality improvement in education initiative. Our aim was to inform students about health promotion in everyday study life. Based on a participatory approach, 3 employed occupational therapy students designed two videos with their peers. For evaluation, we sent three e-mails and conducted a survey among all 1730 students from 17 to 30 April 2023. Questions related to three aspects: how much students like the videos, whether they find them helpful, and whether they intend to use them in their everyday studies. RESULTS: Students identified two video topics: 1. Ergonomic adjustment of the desk with tips for improvement at no or low cost; 2. A short exercise programme to take part in, tailor-made for breaks between lectures or learning phases. 193 students opened the survey, 92 completed the questionnaire. The ergonomics video was rated good to very good by 83 (90%) of the participants; 83 (90%) found it helpful to optimize their workplace. 62 students (67%) wanted to adapt their workplace, 30 (33%) did not, already had an optimal workplace or abstained. The exercise video was rated good to very good by 76 (83%); 78 (85%) of the participants found it helpful. While 61 (66%) wanted to use it in their daily student life, 34% did not, used other exercises or abstained. CONCLUSIONS: A consultation with the students in the project revealed that the survey's low response rate reflects the general burden of e-mail floods and study workload. Tailored videos were rated by most participants as helpful in promoting health in everyday study life. KEY MESSAGES: • Tailored health promotion is of great importance for healthcare students. Measures need to be affordable and easy to integrate in everyday student life. • Participatory approaches to health promotion for students are essential, because students’ expertise for student life leads to measures that best suit their needs.