Since arriving at Flinders in 2017, I’ve been excited by the possibility of a university-wide wellbeing survey. A chance for us to prioritise wellbeing and gain insights that help us build better programs, policies, procedures and more. Thus it is great we managed to make it happen this year. The survey is now closed. Stay tuned for results.
Flinders is using Wellbeing and Skills weeks to launch the inaugural Flinders Student Wellbeing Survey! The survey is just one part of the whole of University Wellbeing Strategic Plan.
This is the first time we’ve done a wellbeing survey of this magnitude, across the whole of the university, and I gotta say, I’m excited!
The survey is open to all of our students, including students on campuses such as Bedford Park, Tonsley, Victoria Square, Sturt, and Northern Territory but all of our online 💻 students as well.
We are super keen for you to take part in this unique event. If you want to jump straight in the link to the survey is here —–> 💥[[Student Wellbeing Survey]]💥
If you want a bit more information first – students, read onwards. Staff, you might find this post from Flinders In Touch helpful as well.
Who is behind it?
The survey is a collaboration between Flinders University and Be Well Co from the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) – who are experts in measuring mental health and wellbeing. In fact, they’ve been doing it for over 7 years and have measured over 20000 people in the community and hundreds of students here at Flinders.
Why are we doing it?
There is no doubt that the last couple of years have taken a toll on people’s mental health and wellbeing. And many of the pressures still exist.
The better we understand the wellbeing of our community here at Flinders, the more targeted action we can take to improve it and provide the kinds of supports that students need.
This starts with a focus on student wellbeing in this survey.
Why should I complete the survey? 🤔
There are basically two broad reasons to complete the survey. One relates to the benefits of the Flinders Community as a whole. The other relates to the personal benefits you might get from the process.
Community benefits
Flinders is a community, almost 30,000 strong. Wellbeing is central to that being a thriving community. The results of the survey will help determine where we need to focus our attention and allocate resources that will help best support your wellbeing. Your opinions and feedback can help shape the wellbeing supports we offer, so please take the time to contribute.
Survey results will be collated and presented to the University’s Wellbeing Working Group, a group of passionate staff and students who oversee mental health and wellbeing initiatives across the University. The results will inform their decision making, ensuring resources, services and information are targeting the things you, our students, want and need most.
Personal benefits
When you complete the survey, you can also choose to receive a personalised wellbeing report, based on the responses you provide in the survey. If you choose to view your report, you will get real-time confidential insights into how you are tracking with your mental health and wellbeing. It will tell you the wellbeing domains in which you are doing well and the domains where you could improve. These targeted insights (along with recommended strategies) will help you work out where would be best to focus your energies to improve or maintain your wellbeing. In the process you’ll learn a lot about the different terminology used to describe a person’s mental health and wellbeing.
The information in that report is quite detailed and so we’ll be organising free “Understand your survey results” (scroll down) sessions where you can learn how to interpret your results. These sessions will be run by Flinders staff and students, in conjunction with the experts at Be Well Co. We’ll show you how to interpret your results and take action in relevant areas to improve your mental health and wellbeing. You’ll hear from students who have done this survey in previous years and how they used the information to make lifestyle changes, as well as members of the Flinders counselling team on what steps you can take next.
Prizes
Oh yeah, you could win an iPad as well as some other wellbeing packs and vouchers 🤑
What does the survey cover?
People think of different things when they hear the term ‘wellbeing’. In this survey, ‘wellbeing’ encapsulates a range of psychological experiences. This includes the experience of stress, anxiety and low mood, but also positive things like having sense of meaning and purpose, connection to others, the experience of pleasure and other positive emotions, our confidence in our ability to manage stress and setbacks, how we are doing in our work and studies, and the feeling that we are growing and making progress. To learn more about what is measured visit this post.
How long will it take to complete the survey and what is the experience like? ⌛
The measurement boffins at Be Well Co tell us that the survey will take approximately 12-15 minutes to complete. I’ve personally completed it a few times myself and it is an easy survey to complete. When you launch the survey, you’ll have the choice to create an account (which allows you to have your results saved) or complete the survey as a guest. In both cases, you’ll get a customised report, but only those who set up an account will be able to have it saved and revisit it.
Completed on a laptop or computer, the survey screens look like this:
Having completed the survey you then get a results screen which looks like this:
How do I interpret the results?
The results of your survey come with explanatory text, but we are also running a couple of free 1-hour “Understand your survey results” online sessions to help students better understand their results. These sessions are being run by Flinders staff and students, in conjunction with experts at Be Well Co to help students understand their wellbeing report.
- Session 1 – 6:00pm – 7:00pm | Thursday, 15 September | Register now
- Session 2 – 6:00pm – 7:00pm | Tuesday, 4 October | Register now
Are my responses anonymous?
We want you to feel comfortable to answer the survey honestly, so all responses to the survey are anonymised, meaning no-one at the university can connect you to your answers. Your name/ FAN will be removed from your responses and only used as part of the prize draw. Only you will have access to your customised report.
When can I complete the survey?
The survey is open from Monday 5th September until Friday 23rd September. You will see lots of reminders about it in emails, on campus and via social media. You can get to the survey via this link.
Use the QR code if you want to complete on your mobile device.
Please consider sharing with your peers
We’ll definitely be promoting the survey a lot in the coming weeks, but even with all that promotion, the response rate will be improved with your help. So, if you complete the survey and find it interesting/useful, please consider promoting it to your friends and peers here at Flinders. You could do that by right clicking the above image, saving it to your computer and then using it as an image for social media.
If you’ve got questions ❓
I am really happy to answer any questions you might have about the survey. Pop them in the comments below or email me directly – gareth.furber@flinders.edu.au
I need support now 🆘
Flinders has a range of support and services available to students, including dedicated health, counselling and disability staff to support your mental health and wellbeing.
We also have an afterhours crisis support line, which is available 5pm – 9am weekdays and 24 hours a day on weekends and public holidays. To access this call 1300 512 409 or text 0488 884 103.