Study: USA’s Sex Health Ranks Low

USA ranks 105th in the Trojan Sexual Health Report Card, an annual ranking that “measures access and availability of sexual health information and resources across 141 colleges and universities,” according to a press release dated Oct. 27.

Administered by Trojan Brand Condoms and fielded by independent research firm Sperling’s Best Places, the goal of the study “is to increase awareness, spark conversation, and get people talking about and advocating positively for sexual health on college campuses,” Trojan Brand Condoms Group Product Manager Bruce Tetreault said in the press release.

USA, along with the 140 other schools, was graded in 13 categories and scored an overall GPA of 2.35 in the survey. USA’s grades include: “D,” Student survey grade; “C,” Web site usability; “B,” Student Health Center (SHC) hours of operation; “A,” drop-in appointments; “C,” separate sexual awareness program availability; “B,” contraceptive availability and cost; “B,” condom availability and cost; “F,” HIV testing (on/off site); “B,” STD testing (on/off site); “F,” anonymous advice via e-mail/column; “B,” lecture/ outreach programs; “B,” student peer groups; and “B,” sexual assault programs.

According to Sperling’s Best Places President Bert Sperling, USA ranked above average in the sexual assault programs and student peer groups categories.

USA Student Health Services Practice Director Beverly Kellen said while the Trojan survey is “getting us talking about sexual health and how important that is,” she didn’t know Sperling’s Best Places was studying USA.

“I was not aware of the survey taking place,” she said. “If they handed out the surveys in our waiting room, I was not aware that was going on.”

Sperling said his team mailed information about the study to USA’s SHC and followed up with a telephone call. No SHC employees responded, he said, but the lack of a response didn’t hurt USA’s ranking. The information Sperling’s team gathered about USA’s SHC came from USA’s Web site and only improved USA’s score, he said.

Sperling’s team gathered USA’s student survey grade of “D” using a “focused poll” installed on the right margin of USA students’ Facebook home pages, Sperling said.
“It’s basically inviting the students to participate in the poll and give their opinions regarding the Student Health Center and in regards to sexual awareness and sexual health [at their respective schools],” Sperling said. “The information [was] collected via the … specialized Web page that they went to.”

Sperling said 41 USA students responded to the Facebook query. His team used Facebook and not student e-mail addresses, he said, so they wouldn’t violate student privacy.
Regarding the “D” yielded by those 41 opinions, Kellen said USA’s SHC has improved in recent years.

“We’re striving very hard here in the Student Health Center to be accredited by the [Accreditation Asssociation for Ambulatory Health Care],” Kellen, who retired from the University of Alabama after 32 years of work, said. “I came back … primarily to get our … health center here accredited just like the one we had at Alabama, [which is] the only student health center in the whole state of Alabama that’s accredited. That speaks volumes to parents and prospective students.

“There are a lot of standards you have to meet, and a lot of policies and procedures you have to get in place. We’ve been working ever since I’ve been here, since 2005, toward improvement for [USA’s] overall health plan [for students].”

Last summer, Kellen arranged for Judy Davis, quality improvement coordinator of the University of Alabama’s SHC, to conduct a “mock survey of USA’s SHC and see how far along it was to be ready to apply for accreditation,” Kellen said.

Davis reported that USA’s SHC was 80 percent ready to apply for accreditation, Kellen said.

Student opinions in the Facebook survey weren’t high regarding USA’s SHC, Sperling said, so the SHC could “be a little more proactive about getting their message to the students about what’s available and the type of services they offer.”

USA’s SHC makes presentations about sexual protection to various groups of students like athletes and dorm students, and certain months of the year, Kellen said, the SHC will conduct free STD testing in conjunction with the Mobile Health Department. At the SHC, condoms are given to students at no cost, she said.

For Web site usability, which USA scored a “C” in, Sperling said his team performed searches on USA’s site, looking for immediately visible information and entering phrases like “sexual assault” into the Google search to see what services are available.
“We try to put ourselves in the position of the students when we’re evaluating the resources, services, and the Web site,” Sperling said. “In this case, if a student was in a position to be concerned about sexual assault, they would want to have that information readily available.”

The SHC’s hours of operation and policy allowing drop-ins are good, Sperling said, but his team “didn’t see anything on the site about HIV testing,” he said. “Not a lot of schools have this, but one thing that would be great is if there was some way that students could ask anonymous questions regarding sexual health and get responses.”

Sperling’s suggestions for encouraging anonymous student questions about sexual health were publishing a column in The Vanguard where professionals answer questions or creating an option on USA’s SHC Web site where students can ask questions of professionals via an anonymous e-mail function.

USA College of Medicine Public Relations Director Paul Taylor said the college’s physicians welcome the opportunity to answer sexual health questions posed by students and would be happy to participate in an anonymous question-and-answer session, whether online or in The Vanguard.

There’s no charge to see an SHC nurse, and students can receive testing at any time, Kellen said. STD screening and testing, annual women’s exams, and health exams comprise some of the services the SHC staff offers.

Kellen said USA surveys students often about the SHC and usually receives an excellent response. The survey includes questions about how the staff treats students and the waiting room’s appearance, and the SHC receives positive results, she said.    

The University of South Carolina ranked No. 1 in the survey, followed by last year’s No. 1 ranked Stanford University (2), University of Connecticut (3), Columbia University (4), and Florida Atlantic University (5). DePaul University fell into last place and was preceded by Brigham Young University (137), Baylor University (138), Providence College (139), and St. John’s University (140).