As part of Texas Tech University’s accreditation, the university has implemented a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) – TechThrive: Pathways for Enhancing Student Well-being. College students are facing a worsening backdrop of mental health challenges, including heightened rates of depression, anxiety, and other psychological issues. This is on top of stressors that students report impact them. Additionally, students have identified increasing levels of loneliness and a lack of connection with the campus community. Researchers continue to find that college students are unaware of where or how to ask for help and note the need for increased promotion of student support services. Despite the generational societal shift toward increased help seeking by university-aged students, and with the gradual destigmatization of mental health needs, challenges still exist on university campuses.
Through its Quality Enhancement Plan, Texas Tech students will improve their collective well-being and mental health literacy by utilizing various well-being and mental health resources. Texas Tech will create, enhance, and promote holistic well-being initiatives to improve the campus climate related to well-being and mental health, positively impacting student success. These goals coordinate directly with the TTU strategic plan for 2025-2030. As Texas Tech seeks to educate and empower a dynamic student body through creating and maintaining a culture of connectedness, TechThrive promotes these efforts in academic and non-academic settings.
Student Success Initiatives
Several barriers can prevent students from accessing mental health services, widening the focus on increasing utilization of a range of well-being related services and increasing overall student well-being on campus can help. TechThrive is employing several initiatives to promote student support services in the areas of well-being. Following the 8 Dimensions of Wellness, TechThrive promotes resources in: Physical, Financial, Educational, Social, Intellectual, Environmental, Spiritual, and Emotional well-being. Promotion includes a comprehensive well-being resource compilation on the TechThrive website. Resources are divided by the wellness dimension that they serve. Should a Texas Tech student have an emergency financial need, they could quickly find an available on-campus support service. TechThrive promotes campus well-being events on Wednesday each week during the semester. Well-being events hosted on Wednesday are promoted on the TechThrive website and through the main Texas Tech social media channels as Well-being Wednesday. These events are hosted by a variety of student success and engagement services, giving students who may not necessarily seek help through mental health services or a counseling center other outlets to engage with well-being.
The TechThrive office operates the Mindful Matador program. This program encourages students to participate in well-being events and resources throughout their time as a Red Raider. A student who completes 16 events/items covering at least five dimensions of wellness, will qualify as a Mindful Matador. Upon completion of this designation, a student is eligible for a graduation cord and should also place this designation on their resume. This designation signifies that a student has completed steps to work on their well-being and practiced coping strategies while in college. Employers increasingly identify emotional intelligence, communication skills, and coping skills as qualities they look for in entry-level employees, making this program beneficial for life at university and beyond.
Student Learning
Educational programs, when paired with campus events, dedicated training, and university messaging, help increase students’ openness to seeking help. To this end, TechThrive has developed a curricular course, CARS 2310 - Thriving at Texas Tech: Personal Growth and Well-Being . This course is offered to all undergraduate students during the fall, spring, and summer semesters through online and face-to-face modalities. In this class, students learn to assess their own level of well-being, increase mental health literacy, identify campus resources, and develop a well-being perspective to enhance their personal and professional experiences. This course is not a requirement of graduation; however, it implements well-being practices and coping strategies positively impacting student’s lives beyond Texas Tech. Upon successful completion of the course, students will receive the Mindful Matador designation and receive a graduation cord.
In addition to CARS 2310 , TechThrive produces Mental Health Literacy Videos at venues around campus and the Canvas Learning Management System. These videos cover topics students have identified as stressors, such as navigating relationships, and serve to introduce students to the 8 Dimensions of Wellness. Historically, Texas Tech includes opportunities to learn about campus resources focused on student well-being in various programs, organizations, and academic courses. TechThrive seeks to enhance these student learning opportunities through CARS 2310 and Mental Health Literacy Videos shown around campus.
Assessment
To gauge progress on its stated goals, the QEP utilizes the WISHES well-being improvement survey. WISHES asks a student to provide their experience with well-being on campus and the resources at Texas Tech. All undergraduate students are asked to complete the survey twice a semester, and incentives include a drawing for two $250 scholarships per survey administration. WISHES is sent directly to students from the TechThrive email account and takes an average of six minutes to complete. The survey provides real-time data, allowing the QEP Executive Committee to make changes to programming and learning activities as the QEP progresses.
Summary
For a student to be successful in their goal of completing college, they need to possess strong enough coping skills for academic-related stress. In turn, if the student does not possess coping skills, their overall well-being is at greater risk at a time when onset of mental health disorders most often occurs. Stressors and mental health challenges have been linked to lower grade point averages and higher dropout rates. TechThrive: Pathways for Enhancing Student Well-being aims to empower students to navigate and overcome challenges by developing effective coping skills, knowing when to access support services, resulting in life-long resilience. TTU is poised to provide next-level student services that are easily accessible for all students, aligned with the 8 Dimensions of Wellness and integrated into the academic, career, personal, and social lives of Texas Tech students—committing to create a campus culture where students thrive academically, personally, and emotionally.
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