Rouages: “Encouraging students to reflect on their health behaviors”
Dominique Makhloufi and Quentin Dudon both work at the Joint Department of Preventive Medicine and Health Promotion (SCMPPS). At the Montpellier IUT campus, they see students for consultations and carry out various prevention initiatives on campus. They talk to us about their work as part of the “Rouages” video series produced by the University of Montpellier. Action!
We’re meeting at the Montpellier-Sète IUT campus in Occitanie that day. It’s a beautiful spring day, and we take the opportunity to set up the camera in the shade of the pine trees. In a small, single-story building just below the gate, Dominique Makhloufi and Quentin Dudon—a nurse and a preventive medicine physician, respectively—are preparing for the shoot by fine-tuning their lines. While the joint preventive medicine and health promotion department employs nearly forty staff members, about ten of them are hard at work at this small branch in Occitanie, carrying out their mission of prevention and health promotion for allUM staff and students.
Nearly 1,500 consultations per year
While Dominique Makhloufi is permanently based at this location, Quentin Dudon rotates among three of the SCMPPS’s six branches: “I see patients at Richter, at the Institute of Biology downtown, and here at the IUT.” Both of their primary responsibilities involve providing medical consultations , specifically by assisting “PASS students and those in paramedical programs with tracking their mandatory vaccinations for their second-year internship, particularly for tuberculosis,” explains Dominique Makhloufi, before adding: “I also monitor fourth-year pharmacy students halfway through their program .” In total, nearly 1,500 consultations per year. These health science students, summoned by email,“don’t always understand the importance of preventive medicine or why they’ve been summoned. We have to be patient and explain the purpose of these medical visits,” emphasizes Quentin Dudon, who has also recently begun seeing international students at Richter.
Psychological Support
Providing psychological support to students is also a priority during these consultations, which assess the key aspects of their lives related to their health and academic success: sleep, diet, well-being, and overall health. “Many don’t have a primary care physician and have limited access to healthcare. They may face social, financial, or psychological challenges… It’s very important that the University step in to help them,” says Quentin Dudon, who appreciates above all the“cross-disciplinary and diverse”nature of his work. “We can also refer them, based on their needs, to other healthcare professionals, whether they’re affiliated with the University or not,” adds Dominique Makhloufi.
A pivotal period
And when we talk about prevention, we’re talking about preventive measures—an essential part of their role, which they carry out on the Triolet and Richter campuses and at the IUT. The goal of these initiatives is“to encourage students to reflect on their behaviors, with a focus on key prevention areas such as mental health, stress management, diet, nutrition, sexual health, addictions, and health-related sports…,” explains Quentin Dudon. Having joined the SCMPPS in November 2022, this graduate in public health and medicine is serving in his first position as a preventive medicine physician working with this specific population: students. “We generally know that students are in fairly good physical health but can be characterized by mental health issues that are sometimes significant, including risky behaviors.”
“ “Young people have changed over the past fifteen or twenty years; screens, in particular, have revolutionized the way they live, introducing an anxiety-inducing and time-consuming aspect that wasn’t as prevalent before,” says Dominique Makhloufi, who, after an initial career in the Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at Montpellier University Hospital, joined the French National Education System in 2002 and then the University of Montpellier in 2021.“I love this interaction with young people—the listening, the compassion, and the responsiveness it requires. I love this pivotal period between when they’re high school students and when they become college students and start taking charge of their own lives,” concludes the preventive health nurse.