Further Education & 16 plus Survey Data
  In the past SHEU has offered to survey, at no cost, 6th Form and FE Colleges that are working towards developing their healthy settings for students.
The sponsorship offered use of SHEU's online questionnaire and support for running the exercise.
Each organisation had immediate access to their results and are able to compare their results to a wider dataset.
  Link to Healthy Student News

The data below is taken from a summary of results from 34 institutions and over 5000 students.
Please follow this link to access the full report (333kb pdf)

SUMMARY
The total number of Organisations in the collated study was 34.
Over 5000 students have contributed to the wider sample.
The Sample
57% were female.
75% were 16-17 year olds.
51% were studying A/AS level courses and 23% were on BTEC programmes.
Views about College life

  • 69% thought that they felt like a real part of their college
  • 91% considered people at the college to be friendly to them
  • 70% described their level of ‘interest’ as ‘high’ or ‘very high’
  • 64% described their general level of ‘effort’ as ‘high’ or ‘very high’

Active travel

  • 11% of students walked to College
  • 2% cycled

Use of College Services

  • 37% have used Careers service/Connexions
  • 9% Counselling service
  • 6% College nurse/Health care service
  • 8% Learning/Study support
  • 15% had never heard of the College Counselling service
  • 20% had never heard of the College nurse/Health care service

Considered good or better

  • teaching rooms 69%
  • ICT 72%
  • social space 52%
  • sports 48%
  • 78% of lecturers
  • exercise facilities 43%
  • 76% of personal tutors
  • 17% had never heard of study support while 13% had used the service and thought it helped a lot

Students viewed effective forms of improving Health information as

  • Flyers and leaflets 46%
  • Posters and notices 34%
  • Tutorials 32%
  • College web site 33%

Views about Healthy living
The top three things to keep students ‘healthy’ were:

  Males %     Females %
1 Fitness/Exercise 70 1 Fitness/Exercise 55
2 Not Smoking 35 2 Diet 45
3 Diet 32 3 Friends/Relationships 34

The top three things to make students ‘unhealthy’ were:

  Males %     Females %
1 Stress/Worry 37 1 Stress/Worry 55
2 Lack of sleep 36 2 Lack of sleep 41
3 Poor Diet 28 3 Poor Diet 33

Sleep

  • 14% had less than six hours’ sleep on the night before the survey
  • 77% said the amount they had last night was usual for a college day
  • 24% think this is not sufficient to stay alert and concentrate on their studies
  • 25% think they do not get enough sleep for their health

Weight

  • 38% never worry about what they eat
  • 18% diet occasionally
  • 39% never really diet
  • 6% are always on a diet
  • 50% would like to lose weight (65% females)

Diet and Food

  • 10% follow a special diet (of these 32% vegetarian; 20% low calorie)
  • The ‘usual main meal’ for the students was ‘meal prepared at home’ 55%

Students considered the ‘health’ aspect of their diet as follows

  • 40% thought that their diet was ‘unhealthy’ (44% of females)
  • 69% want to eat ‘more healthily’ (78% of females)

When choosing or buying food

  • 71% know enough about food
  • 59% about cost
  • 47% concerned about health effects
  • 69% were concerned about taste
  • 39% concerned about how it is produced

Drinking water

  • 11% drank no water yesterday
  • 56% considered their to be ‘no’ opportunity to get water from ‘water bottles/coolers in rooms’ or from a ‘water fountain’ ( 61%)

Exercise, Sport and Leisure

  • 43% think they ‘take enough exercise to keep healthy’
  • 72% ‘would like to take more exercise’ (78% of females)

When asked ‘What stops you exercising as much as you would like?’ responses included

  • 71% time
  • 37% cost
  • 37% self conscious
  • 27% too far away

The three most popular forms of exercise in past week were 7 days before the survey were:

  Males %     Females %
1 Walks of 2 miles or morey 51 1 Walks of 2 miles or more 53
2 Exercises (weight training, press ups, sit ups etc.) 50 2 Exercises (weight training, press ups, sit ups etc.) 31
3 Jogging/running 43 3 Jogging/running 24
  • 89% did any sort of activity in the last 7 days and 50% exercised three times or more
  • 85% did any sort of activity in the last 7 days for at least 30 minutes and 43% did so three times or more
  • 78% got “out of breath or sweaty” while exercising in the last 7 days and 34% did so three times or more
  • At least once a week during term time 88% spend time with friends, 57% visit friends or family, 51% work for money and 37% go to a bar

Emotional well being
20% have experienced emotional or psychological problems this term (36% in the past).
Of these

  • 'Life is not worth living’ 13% this term, 47% ever
  • ‘Harmed yourself’ 5% this term, 26% ever
  • 'Thought about taking your own life’ 6% this term, 28% ever
  • ‘Attempted suicide’ 2% this term, 11% ever
  • Received help for emotional problems 5% this term, (21% ever) and of these 41% said this help was effective

Self esteem
84% agreed with the statement "I am glad I am who I am";
28% agreed with the statement "I never seem to achieve anything worthwhile"

Risk taking

  • 45% say they don't worry much about risks (51% of males)
  • 26% were more inclined to risky things when they have had a drink or two (29% females)
  • 10% seek out risky things when they are bored
 

Smoking
24% currently smoke (27% of females), of these

  • 15% started at college
  • 70% would like to give up
  • 38% would like some help in giving up
  • 76% have at some point tried to quit

Alcohol
35% drink alcohol “regularly”, 66% had had at least one drink in the last week
Alcohol was consumed in the following locations

  • 49% at a bar
  • 38% at a party or club
  • 49% at home
  • 42% at a friend's
  • 19% have thought at some point they should cut down on their drinking
  • 75% did not think the amount they drink was harmful to their health
  • 86% think people of their age drink to get drunk
  • 70% thought because friends do
  • 71% to feel more confident

Drugs
Current use

  • 9% Cannabis
  • 3% Cocaine
  • 2% Ecstasy
  • 2% Poppers
  • 2% had ever injected (44% of these had shared a needle)
  • 28% had tried Cannabis but do not use it now, of these 33% had tried it since starting at college
  • 9% thought their drug use affected their studies, 23% their health, and 81% wanted to take less
 

Sexual Health
  • 77% say they know pretty much all they need
  • 91% know where to go for further information or support
  • 92% reported feeling heterosexual attraction and 2% none
  • 30% had not had sex
  • among those with sexual experience 25% reported they had had 5 or more sexual partners
  • 74% used contraception or other protection on the last occasion of sexual intercourse
  • Of those that used a condom, 61% did so mainly to reduce the risk of pregnancy, 51% for risk of infection
  • 3% of the sexually active students reported that they or their partner had ever had a sexually transmitted infection
  • 6% students reported that they or their partner had ever had a termination of pregnancy (abortion)
  • 37% of the students reported that they or their partner had ever taken emergency contraception (50% of those more than once)
  • 33% thought that emergency contraception was effective only up to 24 hours, while 18% thought that it was effective after 72 hours
  • 87% thought that they would use a condom with a new or future partner
  • 81% know where they can obtain free condoms (25% from college)

Home background

  • 87% live their mother at home and/or 62% their father, while lived with a 14% a step parent/parents’ partner

Problems and worries

  • 28% say that family problems affected their work this academic year
  • 44% had had no difficulties at College this year

Difficulties experienced at College this year

  • 20% changing friends
  • 16% settling in
  • 12% changes of tutors
  • 15% changes at home
  • 10% Health

Of these, 21% said that such experiences had affected their work quite a lot or more

Students noted from a long list of worries that in the last month they had worried often or more:

  Males %     Females %
1 Study/work problems 30 1 Study/work problems 50
2 Money problems 26 2 Money problems 40
3 Boyfriend/girlfriend problems 18 3 The way you look 37
4 What people think of you 17   4 The amount you are eating 35
5 Physical health 16   5 What people think of you 34

19% worried so much about something it affected their studies

Strategies to cope with ‘worries’ were chosen ‘usually’ or ‘always’

  • 55% listened to music
  • 45% talk with someone
  • 48% keep busy socialising
  • 52% think carefully about the problem on their own
  • 27% eat or drink more (e.g sweets, chocolates)

Interpersonal relationships
In the past 12months students had experienced some form of

  • verbal abuse 14%
  • other harassment 6%
  • physical assault 8%
  • bullying at college 2%
  • sexual harassment 4% (6% females)
  • bullying at home 2%

Use of health services

  • 90% visited the dentist in the last year
  • 87% visited the doctor in the last year (14% didn’t mention something they wanted to talk about)

Money and Employment

  • 53% have done regular work and 24% irregular or casual work
  • 50% did more than 40 hours work last month
  • 26% think it takes up time, 47% makes them too tired and 8% think it affects their college work quite a lot or more
  • 35% retail work, 32% bar/restaurant work
  • 64% work for essentials, 66% luxuries
  • 8% thought money worries affected their ‘health’, quite a lot or more
  • 8% thought money worries affected their ‘college work’, quite a lot or more

Future plans
On leaving college:

  • 52% intend to continue in full-time education
  • 82% want to develop a worthwhile career

Ethnicity and culture

  • 91% of the students were White (UK)
  • 45% reported having no religious affiliation; (43% were Christian.)
  • 7% reported discrimination because of their religious practices
  • 7% reported tension between themselves and their parents over cultural differences
  • 2% are from families who are asylum seekers or refugees.

For further details please contact Angela Balding

Top