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Journal of College Student Retention and Recruiting for both On-Campus and Online Universities
Dr. Jamie Smith
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PEOPLE WITH IMPACT INTERVIEW - Dr. Jamie Smith, Director of Clinical and Assessment Programs for GoalQuest
Dr. Jamie Smith is currently the Director of Clinical and Assessment Programs for GoalQuest, a leading provider of a proven suite of web-based communications tools for higher education institutions. Through her work with GoalQuest’s Student Wellness products, Dr. Smith has cultivated a unique understanding of the emerging health and wellness programs currently being implemented at campuses across the country. She shares those insights with EDUInsight in the following interview.
Q: Obviously a central focus is “prevention”, considering recent violence at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech, and recent student deaths stemming from the use of alcohol. How can universities skirt the “hurry up and wait for students to seek help” mentality – are there alternative ways to proactively reach out to students before a crisis occurs?
Dr. Jamie Smith: With the recent events in Northern Illinois, Louisiana Technical College and Virginia Tech, the underlying issues pertaining to students’ mental health and wellness come to the forefront. Each tragedy brings awareness to the topic and reminds us that higher education institutions must proactively address the psychological health of its students. Historically, most schools’ approach to mental health has been mostly reactive, with inadequate resources allocated toward preventative measures and outreach to address student mental health and wellness. Obviously, in order to promote mental health and wellness across the entire campus, resources must be able to reach a large number of students, and since students today are so comfortable with technology, I think the best method to reach them is through online programs, along with a proactive approach leading students to those web-based resources. Educating students about the available resources and how to access them can be very helpful in addressing wellness issues before they escalate into a crisis.
Q: How have health and wellness programs proved beneficial to universities in terms of prevention?
Dr. Jamie Smith: While we cannot prevent every campus tragedy, it is important for the universities to disseminate information on mental health and offer adequate tools to students. I think schools should provide as many avenues as possible to connect students with the mental health and wellness help they may need, and it is also in the school’s best interest for a variety of reasons. We know that a large proportion of students who are mildly distressed or who could potentially benefit from mental health resources are not receiving the help they need. This is due to a variety of factors, including lack of knowledge about available resources, anxiety or embarrassment about receiving treatment at the campus counseling center, or they don’t feel their condition is serious enough to warrant actively seeking help. Providing an online prevention program offers an accessible resource that students can use in the privacy of their rooms, and it increases the likelihood it will be utilized by more students in need.
Q: How have health and wellness programs proven effective in terms of student engagement and retention?
Dr. Jamie Smith: In general, providing adequate and accessible mental health resources is essential to retention. If students don’t have the necessary means to stay healthy, schools will see increased rates of attrition. We know that large percentages of students leave universities for personal problems stemming from stress, anxiety and depression. Many retention catalysts can be prevented through these types of programs, and there would ultimately be increased rates of retention if schools were providing proper mental health and wellness resources.
Q: For universities looking to add health and wellness services or programs, what are the integral aspects they should consider?
Dr. Jamie Smith: Some of the most important aspects of a health and wellness program include a proactive approach to recruiting students and leading them in to the program. Online programs seem to be the most effective because they are offered through a student’s preferred medium, and these types of programs allow for easy student outreach through email. An email campaign is very effective—you can have the best website in the world, but if you don’t consistently tell students about it and remind them it exists, they won’t visit the site. Through GoalQuest, all of our research suggests that the more we email, the more participation we get from students over the course of time. We aren’t going to garner complete participation through one email blast, so persistence is also a key consideration for online program recruitment. Another aspect for an institution to consider is the expectations of the modern student in terms of web-based resources. Today’s college student has grown up with the Internet, and therefore, their expectations are very high for any web-based program or resource. Web-based programs must be very visually appealing and engaging, and offer many interfacing opportunities. Most colleges that provide health and wellness programs don’t have these features due to a lack of internal resources required to create such an interactive site. But the result is that institutions, if they have a website devoted to health and wellness education at all, have flat, text-based resources that don’t engage students. While up-to-date and compelling information is important, schools need to remember that they are dealing with students, and the format and features of any online health and wellness resource must be conducive to the needs and preferences of that audience.
Q: How can universities measure the effectiveness of their programs to ensure they are meeting the needs of students and in turn, the university?
Dr. Jamie Smith: All programs should have some engagement and efficacy evaluations. While effective programs should utilize certain tracking features, schools should also ask for site feedback from students in terms of their experience with the program and what they’ve learned or found valuable from the information and resources provided. However, in the area of prevention, the idea is that any information you can get out there is good—disseminating any information about health and wellness resources to students is better than none – and the hope is to plant a seed that will grow over time. It is also important to remember that the key is to educate students and cultivate a working knowledge of health and wellness that they can use to improve their day-to-day lives.
Dr. Jamie Smith, Director of Clinical and Assessment Programs for GoalQuest
Dr. Jamie Smith is the Director of Clinical and Assessment Programs for GoalQuest, part of EducationDynamics’ Enrollment and Retention Services Division. Prior to joining GoalQuest, Jamie provided psychotherapy to college students at the University of Miami Counseling Center, worked at an eating disorders intensive treatment center, and treated more severe patients at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. She specializes in a number of mental health issues common to college students, including eating disorders, depression, and anxiety. In addition, Jamie has conducted numerous psychological studies over the past 10 years, many of which have been published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
See an index of all the "People with Impact" Interviews
Additional sections of this journal address student recruiting and student retention. We have also placed all articles with a common theme of online education and distance education programs in a separate portal. New articles will be posted each Monday, please check back by bookmarking this site or placing a link to this Innovative Practices in Communicating with Students portal.
