An innovative wellness onboarding program for health sciences students: Baseline findings with implications for practice and future research

Abstract

<p>Session presented on Saturday, July 25, 2015:</p> <p>It is well known that the transition from high school to college is very stressful for many students across the world. In the freshman year, high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression are prevalent along with poor health practices and a tendency to gain weight. However, little is known about the transition into graduate school and how it impacts the health and wellness of students pursing health sciences professional degrees. This symposium will describe the development and implementation of an innovative wellness onboarding program for health sciences students at a large land grant public university in the mid-west region of the United States, which includes the colleges of dentistry, health and rehabilitation sciences, medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy and veterinary medicine. Baseline findings of the students' physical health, mental health, healthy lifestyle beliefs and healthy lifestyle behaviors will be described along with correlations among the study variables. A description of the wellness onboarding program will be highlighted with implications for practice and future research.</p>