Health-promoting lecturing: development and validation of a measure

Abstract

Introduction: Mental health impairments among university students have increased significantly in recent years. Although student mental health has received increasing attention, the role of university lecturers in shaping students’ well-being remains largely underexplored. Drawing on insights from occupational leadership research, it is assumed that lecturers play a key role in shaping the demands and resources of their students, which in turn impacts students’ health and well-being. Against this background, the present study systematically developed and validated a measure for assessing health-promoting lecturing behavior, referred to as the Inventory for Health-Promoting Lecturing (I-HeaL). Methods: An online survey was conducted with a total sample of 1,715 students from German universities to assess the instrument’s psychometric properties. The instrument was first analyzed with an initial subsample (n1 = 300) and then cross-validated in a second subsample (n2 = 1,415). Results: The results indicate good overall psychometric quality, including satisfactory reliability coefficients across the subscales. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the proposed higher-order two-factor structure, differentiating between stressor- and resource-oriented lecturer behavior. Substantial correlations between lecturer behavior and various indicators of student health and well-being support the criterion validity of the measure. Discussion and conclusion: Comprising 15 subscales and 47 items, the developed instrument is a valid and reliable measure that allows for a differentiated assessment of lecturers’ behavior relevant to students’ health and well-being. In practice, it can serve as a basis for designing teaching and learning environments that foster student health and sustainable well-being in higher education.