Wellbeing Collaborative Key Performance Indicators
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Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) assessed our collective progress towards a community culture driven by wellbeing.
The KPIs include the following items:
- A positive sense of belonging
- Perception of being treated fairly and equitably in classrooms and classroom settings
- Perception of being treated fairly and equitably in out-of-classroom university spaces
- Positive mental health
- At risk of binge drinking
- Sexual assault
- Upstanding Behaviors
Western's Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) is currently measuring these KPIs using surveys of first-year cohorts through graduation to measure change over time of each KPI.
The Western Educational Longitudinal Study (WELS) is intended to measure student experiences at Western from the time of enrollment to shortly after graduation. In unison with admissions and registrar data, WELS helps the university assess student needs, provide data for program assessments and other university analyses, and develop a continuous record of student outcomes. The study is administered through surveys and focus groups.
KPI 1: Sense of Belonging
- About half (51.6%) of students at the end of their first year at Western experienced a positive sense of belonging at WWU.
- When asked questions about their sense of belonging:
- 44.9% of first-year students agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I feel valued as an individual at Western,”
- 51.4% agreed or strongly agreed with “I feel I belong at Western,” and
- 53% shared “I have found one or more communities or groups where I feel I belong at Western.”
- In contrast, 55.3% of participants agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I have considered leaving Western because I feel isolated or unwelcome.”
KPI 2: Perception of being treated fairly and equitably in classrooms and classroom settings and
A total of 86.9% of first-year students reported that they believe they are treated fairly and equitably in classroom settings by faculty or instructor
KPI 3: Perception of being treated fairly and equitably in out-of-classroom university spaces
Three-quarters (75.9%) of those surveyed shared that they believe they are treated fairly and equitably by other students outside of the classroom at the university.
KPI 4: Positive mental health
Students at the end of their second year at Western were asked eight questions about their mental health using the Flourishing Scale (Diener et al., 2010). Thirty-five percent (35.1%) of second-year students reported having positive mental health.
KPI 5: Binge drinking behavior
To measure students’ risk of binge drinking, students from all years at Western were asked about their drinking habits in the last two weeks. The survey found that 55.4% of students did not binge drink in the last two weeks. At-risk drinking is defined as 4 or more drinks for women and 5 or more drinks for men on one occasion (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2015).
KPI 7: Experiences of Sexual Assault
Participants were asked if they had experienced unwanted sexual contact of any kind in the past 12 months (The Healthy Minds Network, 2018). 10.6% of participants—who were students from any year at Western—reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact.
KPI 8: Engaged in Upstanding Behavior
Upstanding Behavior was measured by asking students if they had intervened for someone in at least one of the following situations:
- drinking too much;
- at risk of being sexually assaulted;
- using harassing language towards others;
- under emotional distress or suicidal; and
- physical altercations (The Healthy Minds Network, 2018).
32.6% of students reported intervening on campus over the past year in at least one of these five situations.