Health Surveillance at Constructor University Bremen (CUB) and Among HAW-Hamburg Employees (CUB-HS2025)

Health Surveillance at Constructor University Bremen (CUB) to Assess Students' and HAW-Hamburg Employees' Health and Wellbeing - Explanatory Sequential Mixed-Methods Approach

The aim of Health Surveillance is to analyze and describe the state of health of students at Constructor University, key influencing factors and individual resources by using mixed-method design.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Stress, Psychological; Anxiety; Stress, Emotional; Substance Use; Health Behavior; Substance Abuse; Emotional Stress; Observational Study; Psychological Stress; Substance Dependence; Stress (Psychology); Substance Addiction; Life Stress; Anxiety Depression (Mild or Not Persistent); Social Isolation or Loneliness

Detailed Description

The aim of Health Surveillance plus the additional research by means of qualitative interviews is to analyze and describe the state of stress and health of students at Constructor University (CU) by using a mixed-methods approach, as well as explore the association and mechanism between stress and health of students at CU (and employees at HAW Hamburg), key influencing factors and individual resources. In areas where there is a need for action, the Health Surveillance plus this project the additional qualitative interviews can provide detailed insights and/or in-depth analyses. The Health Surveillance thus provides information on health-related topics and delivers scientifically sound information as a basis for health-promoting discussions in the subsequent follow-up process at various levels (e.g. faculties and departments). In addition, the Health Surveillance plus the additional interviews at CU contributes to comparability with surveys at other German universities through the use of validated and standardized measuring instruments and in-depth qualitative interviews with qualitative content analysis, as well as to add new constructs i.e. artificial intelligence and digital technology use as well as demo-cratic competences, as this turned out to be new and important factors.

Main hypotheses are

1. The Health Surveillance gives insights into state of stress and health of students at CU, key influencing factors and individual resources by using a mixed-methods approach.
2. With the Health Surveillance the health-promotion at CU by using a mixed-methods approach, as well as explore the association and mechanism between stress and health of students at CU (and employees at HAW Hamburg), can be guided and promotion of mental health (including the reduction of loneliness and discrimination) can be strengthened.
3. The health of students (and employees at HAW Hamburg), their perceived stress, loneliness and discrimination/minorization (disadvantage) as well as substance use interrelates with participation in health promoting activities?
4. Recommendations can be derived for qualification and skills training of multipliers for health-promoting behavior (e.g., J-peers)?

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 363

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Alexander Strelnikov, Dr. med.; Phone Number: +49 421 200 4730; Email: astrelnikov@constructor.university

Study Locations

• Germany
  • Bremen, Germany, 28759
    • Not yet recruiting
    • Constructor University (formerly known as Jacobs University)
    • Contact: Sonia Lippke, PhD; Phone Number: +4942120004730; Email: slippke@constructor.university
    • Principal Investigator: Sonia Lippke, PhD
  • Bremen, Germany, 28759
    • Recruiting
    • Constructor University Bremen
    • Contact: Aleksander Strelnikov, MD; Phone Number: +49 1512 3345445; Email: astrelnikov@constructor.university

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

This project contains three phases, the first one is quantitative phase (2025), the second one is qualitative phase (Dec 2025-April 2026) and the third one is again quantitative phase (2026). All Constructor University students and employees at HAW Hamburg who wish to take part in the study will be included. In the quantitative phase, Iinclusion criteria are english English language for CU students and German language for HAW employees, reading and writing skills, internet access and student status. In the qualitative phase, the inclusion criteria are English or Chinese language and between 18-30 years old. Before the start of the survey period and directly before the start of the online survey or interview, all participants will receive all relevant study information and actively declare their consent to participate in the study.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• English language skills
• Reading and writing skills
• Internet access
• Student status
• Consent to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Illiteracy
• Massively limited cognitive abilities ( i.e. linguistic components of the digital offerings must be able to be used, and questionnaires completed, or interviews participated in) and severe psychiatric disorders (e.g., severe depression)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
students; Students at Constructor University Bremen

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Loneliness	University of California Los Angelese Loneliness Scale (UCLA-LS) - 3 Items (Schobin, Arriagada & Gibson-Kunze, 2024), Range 1 (never/nie) - 5 (very often/sehr oft), higher scores mean a worse outcome Loneliness in private and study context - 9 Items (Techniker Krankenkasse, 2024), Range 1 (often) - 4 (never), higher scores mean better outcomes	2025 and 2026 (no matching)
Health literacy	Health literacy - 10 Items (Lenartz, Söllner & Rudinger, 2014), Range 1 (does not apply/trifft überhaupt nicht zu) - 4 (does fully apply/trifft genau zu), higher scores mean a better outcome	2025 and 2026 (no matching)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Depression and anxiety	Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4) - 4 Items (Kroenke, Spitzer, Williams & Löwe, 2009), Range 0 (not at all/überhaupt nicht) - 3 (nearly every day/beinahe jeden Tag), higher scores mean worse outcome	2025 and 2026 (no matching)
Subjective health status	Subjective health status- 1 Item (WHO, 1996); Range 1 (very good/sehr gut) - 5 (very poor/schlecht), higher score means worse outcome	2025
Student satisfaction	Student satisfaction - 1 Item (Westermann, Heise, Spies & Trautwein, 1996), Range 0 (not at all satisfied/gar nicht zufrieden) - 100 (completely satisfied/vollkommen zufrieden), higher scores mean better outcome	2025 and 2026 (no matching)
HEI-Stress	Higher Education Institution Stress (HEI-Stress) - 3 Items (Schmidt, Sieverding, Scheiter & Obergfell, 2013), Range 0 (not at all stressed/gar nicht gestresst) - 100 (very stressed/sehr gestresst), higher scores mean worse outcome	2025

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Artificial intelligence and digital technology use	Artificial intelligence and digital technology use - 1 Item (adapted from Jerusalem & Schwarzer, 1999), 1 Item (adapted from Zhang, Tan, Chew, Hew, & Choo, 2025), 2 Items (adapted from Chen, Y., Chen, G., & Chen, J., 2026), 3 Items (Norman & Skinner, 2006)]	2026
Democratic competences	• Democratic competences - 4 Items (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2025; Die Einsamkeit junger Menschen ist eine Gefahr für die Demokratie)	2026

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH
• Collaborators: Hamburg University of Applied Sciences/Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg (HAW Hamburg)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sonia Lippke, PhD, Constructor University Bremen gGmbH & Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences, Germany

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• World Health Organization (WHO) (Hrsg.). (2996). Health interview survey: Towards international harmonization of methods and instruments. World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe, Kopenhagen.
• Burian, J., Lehnchen, J. Deptolla, Z., Heinrichs, K., Stock, C. (2023). Abschlussbericht zum Vorhaben "Studienbedingungen und (psychische) Gesundheit Studierender: Weiterentwicklung und Erprobung des Bielefelder Fragebogens zu Studienbedingungen
• Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B. W., & Löwe, B. (2009). An Ultra-Brief Screening Scale for Anxiety and Depression: The PHQ-4. Psychosomatics, 50(6), 613-621. DOI:
• Schobin, J, Arriagada, C., Gibson-Kunze, M. (2024). Einsamkeitsbarometer 2024. Langzeitentwicklund von Einsamkeit in Deutschland. Einsamkeitsbarometer 2024, 1, 1-78. Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend (BMFSFJ) (Hrsg.).
• Techniker Krankenkasse. (2024). Einsamkeitsreport 2024. Techniker Krankenkasse: Hamburg (Hrsg.).
• SOEP-IS Group (2022). SOEP-IS 2020 - Fragebogen für die SOEP-Innovations-Stichprobe. SOEP Survey Papers 1143: Series A - Survey Instruments (Erhebungsinstrumente). Berlin: DIW Berlin/SOEP.
• Deutsches Zentrum für Hochschul- und Wissenschaftsforschung GmbH (DZHW) (2021). Die Studierendenbefragung in Deutschland. Grundprogramm Modul A. Hannover: FDZ-DZHW.
• Janke, S. & Glöckner-Rist, A. (2014). Deutsche Version der Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Zusammenstellung sozialwissenschaftlicher Items und Skalen (ZIS)
• Knispel, J., Wittneben, L., Slavchova, V., & Arling, V. (2021). Skala zur Messung der berufli-chen Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung (BSW-5-Rev). Zusammenstellung sozialwissenschaftlicher Items und Skalen (ZIS).

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 17, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 11, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 21, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): March 27, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 1, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 25, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Age; Self-efficacy; Disability; Health literacy; Gender; Healthy students; Study characteristics; PHQ-4; Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS); Subjective health status; Student satisfaction; UCLA-LS; HEI-Stress; Mixed Method
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neoplasms; Immune System Diseases; Behavioral Symptoms; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Lymphatic Diseases; Lymphoproliferative Disorders; Immunoproliferative Disorders; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin; Lymphoma; Behavior; Hemic and Lymphatic Diseases; Social Behavior; Sexual Behavior; Anxiety Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Lymphoma, Follicular; Stress, Psychological; Health Behavior; Social Isolation; Coitus
• Other Study ID Numbers: CUB2025-03-12

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: due to data security

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No