Fall 2024 marks a five-year milestone since the grand opening of the Barnes Center at The Arch. A driving force behind the vision for the Barnes Center at The Arch’s physical space and its health and wellness team—comprising health care, counseling, health promotion and recreation—is to enhance the student experience through a pioneering Integrated Health and Wellness Model. The physical space mirrors the model, which prioritizes increased communication across teams alongside increased student access to services, resources and experiences that work together to encompass mind, body, spirit and community.
The innovative work of implementing and assessing the Barnes Center at The Arch Integrated Health and Wellness Model has earned the team, Yanhong Liu, Ph.D., School of Education associate professor and Barnes Center Interdisciplinary Health and Wellness Research Consortium faculty affiliate, and campus partners their latest peer-reviewed publication, “An Integrated Health and Wellness Model in a College Setting: A Path Analysis Pilot Investigation,” in the Journal of College Student Mental Health (formerly the Journal of College Student Psychotherapy).
Helping to lead the health and wellness research team and this publication is Qingyi Yu, Ph.D., Barnes Center at The Arch associate director of health and wellness research, who answers a few questions about the publication.
Pet therapy at the Barnes Center at The Arch (Photo by Amelia Beamish)
What are some exciting highlights about the study discussed within the publication?
“Possibly the first peer-reviewed research on an integrated wellness model in a college setting, our study is participatory in nature, aiming to meet the needs of our university community and the wider academic community across various disciplines. The study presents empirical evidence demonstrating the significant impact of the Barnes Center at The Arch’s Integrated Health and Wellness Model on reducing depressive symptoms among college students. The article revealed that our integrated model encompasses various health and wellness components, such as self-guided mindfulness (Crowley Family MindSpa), pet therapy (Deborah A. Barnes Pet Therapy Program), recreation and counseling services.”
You’ve mentioned that this may be the first peer-reviewed research of its kind, how do you anticipate this may further support others on a national and even global level?
“We are proud that our Barnes Center Integrated Health and Wellness Model is unique and successful in college settings. While existing literature has some data on integrated health care in hospital settings, our study is likely the first to demonstrate its significance in college settings. We anticipate conducting more research to support college student well-being based on our model, and to provide more data-driven evidence to impact policies and resources for college student well-being nationally and even globally.”
How do you anticipate these findings will help further enhance the Syracuse University student experience?
A student enjoys a massage chair at the MindSpa.
“Our current research underscores the significance of an Integrated Health and Wellness Model in a college setting. This model is a bridge connecting many domains of well-being, including physical, mental, social and spiritual, which allows the Barnes Center at The Arch team to provide holistic care for our students. We found that students seeking mental health services could also benefit greatly from engaging in other wellness activities, such as incorporating physical exercise alongside mindfulness experiences of pet therapy and/or self-guided mindfulness practice through the Crowley Family MindSpa, in addition to counseling to enhance mental health outcomes. Taking these findings further, the Barnes Center has implemented a new referral system based on this model, enabling our counseling and health care providers to recommend students to participate in physical exercises, nutrition services, pet therapy and the MindSpa.”
The University community is invited to explore future opportunities for participating in research and supporting the student experience.
Interdisciplinary Health and Wellness Research Consortium: Involving faculty, graduate students and those interested in participating in research from various disciplines, the Barnes Center at The Arch is working to establish an Interdisciplinary Wellness Research Consortium. The group’s focus will be evidence-based health and wellness research and practitioner-researcher collaboration efforts, incorporating practices such as counseling, health promotion, physical wellness and more. It will also provide graduate students in training with mentorship opportunities in data analysis, research development and publication. For more information, email Yu at qyu105@syr.edu.
Shooting hoops at the Barnes Center (Photo by Ross Knight)
Student Health and Wellness Advisory Committee: This committee is hosted for the 2024-25 academic year and offers leadership opportunities for students to provide feedback on health and wellness initiatives, programming and services to help inform the Barnes Center. The application is open through Friday, Sept. 20. More information and the application is available on the Student Health and Wellness Advisory Committee Application webpage.