Onikia Brown, Virginia Quick, Sarah Colby, Geoffrey Greene, Tanya M. Horacek, Sharon Hoerr, Mallory Koenings, Tandalayo Kidd, Jesse Morrell, Melissa Olfert, Beatrice Phillips, Karla Shelnutt, Adrienne White and Kendra Kattelmann
Recruiting college students for research studies can be challenging. The purpose of this paper is to describe the lessons learned in the various recruitment strategies used for…
Abstract
Purpose
Recruiting college students for research studies can be challenging. The purpose of this paper is to describe the lessons learned in the various recruitment strategies used for enrolling college students in a theory-based, tailored, and web-delivered health intervention at 13 US universities.
Design/methodology/approach
The community-based participatory research (CBPR) model was used to develop a staged-tailored, web-based, randomized control trial, focussing on eating behavior, physical activity, and stress management. Participant feedback during baseline assessments was used to evaluate recruitment strategies.
Findings
Findings from this feedback suggest that traditional recruitment strategies, such as newspaper ads and flyers, may not be the best approach for recruiting college students; instead, web-based efforts proved to be a better recruitment strategy.
Research limitations/implications
This project included results from 13 US universities and thus may not be generalizable: more research is needed to determine successful recruitment methods for 18-24 years old college students.
Originality/value
This paper lessens the gap regarding successful recruitment strategies for 18-24 years old college students.
Details
Keywords
Janavi Kumar, Koushik Adhikari, Yijing Li, Erika Lindshield, Nancy Muturi and Tandalayo Kidd
The purpose of this paper is to enable community members to discuss their perceptions of eating habits and physical activity in relation to sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to enable community members to discuss their perceptions of eating habits and physical activity in relation to sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, and reveal facilitators and barriers to healthy eating behavior and physical activity engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Nine focus groups, which included six groups from sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, two parents’ groups, and one teachers’ group, were conducted in a middle school in southwest Kansas. Individual influences, social influences, and larger contextual influences on early adolescent health were assessed by discussing behaviors, personal characteristics, and environmental factors, based on the Socio-Ecological Model (SEM).
Findings
Adolescent participants’ knowledge regarding healthful foods was limited. Taste and appearance were the two leading factors that contributed to food choices. Responses from adolescents, parents, and teachers all indicated difficulties when introducing new and healthful food items into adolescents’ diets. Besides physical education (PE) and school-related sports, the sources for physical activity were limited. Certain video games were specified as facilitators of physical activity by adolescents. Peer pressure was a predominant theme motivating most adolescents’ physical activities as well as food choices. These findings suggest numerous interrelated factors associated with healthy lifestyle in the population of this study.
Originality/value
By involving adolescents in the in-depth open-ended discussion through the focus groups helped reveal their unique attitudes, perceptions, and motivations toward practicing healthy lifestyles. Interventions targeting both behavior change and environmental change are needed.