National College Health Assessment
A comprehensive picture of KU students' health
The American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment (NCHA) is a national research survey created to assist institutions of higher education collect data about their students’ habits, behaviors, and perceptions of prevalent health topics.
The Health Education Resource Office (HERO) has collected NCHA data since 2003. Data collection occurs every two years when HERO surveys a random sample of student participants. KU’s survey results can be compared with the national dataset, which includes over 100,000 students at 153 institutions of higher education.
HERO uses the data collected to establish goals and objectives in the areas of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs; Sexual Health and Healthy Relationships; Nutrition and Food Security; and Self Management. By establishing goals and objectives, HERO can assess programming efforts and modify as needed as well as trend students’ behaviors over time.
