Cues to Healthy Decision-Making among College Students: Results from a Pilot Study.
Problem Almost 60% of college students consume less than two servings of fruits and vegetables a day while 40-50% either exercise irregularly or do not exercise. When surveyed in another study, half of the students responded that they had not received any information about healthy eating and behaviors from their colleges while nearly 60% said they would be interested in receiving such information. Therefore college environments provide opportunities for implementing interventions that encourage healthier lifestyles including on healthy nutrition and physical activity. Purpose and Method The purpose of the current pilot study was to implement and evaluate a campus-wide campaign of cues to healthy decision-making to improve students' knowledge and awareness about healthier lifestyle choices and to serve as reminders towards positive changes in health-related behaviors and actions. Results Based on analysis, 86% (48) of the participants indicated that they had learned something from reading the information on the table toppers and 75% (42) agreed that the information had made them more aware and reminded them of healthier lifestyle choices. Conclusions The need for such communication-based campaigns using cues to healthy decision-making show promise among college students. Key Words: Cues, Obesity, Nutrition, Physical Activity, Diabetes Introduction Nearly one-third of American adults aged 20 years or older are overweight and 33.8% are obese, triggering obesity-related conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, and Type II Diabetes (Ogden & Carroll, 2010). Research suggests that the above conditions may be largely linked to a person's choices, behaviors, and lifestyle (Kees 2011; Nyaga 2000). Kees (2011) suggests that consumers make poor health decisions because of a low tendency to consider the potential costs of their behaviors as noted particularly among college students. These health decisions by college students are further negatively impacted by stress and time constraints related to managing and balancing coursework, employment, relationships, and families, making eating healthy meals and being physical active problematic and low on the priority list (Kees, 2011). Choices and decision-making College years present a different set of nutritional priorities including with eating habits. Many factors play a role in obesity among college students such as unhealthy dietary choices and physical inactivity. Most student diets disproportionately include fast foods that are high in calories, fat, and sodium content (Cluskey & Grobe, 2009; Kelly, Mazzeo, & Bean, 2013). Existing evidence shows that negative changes can occur in several health behaviors during young adults' progression from high school to college (Racette, Deusinger, Strube, Highstein, & Deusinger, 2005). On an average day, college students consume one serving of fruit, 1.5 servings of vegetables, half a serving of low-fat dairy, and 1.4 servings of whole grain daily (Kelly, Mazzeo, & Bean, 2013). These numbers are considerably lower in some men and nonwhite students, are severely lower than the recommended dietary intake, and continue to decrease during the course of students' first year of college (Kelly, Mazzeo, & Bean, 2013). According to the Healthy Campus 2010 Report, 5.4% college students reported eating zero servings of fruits and vegetables a day and 58.3% consumed 1-2 servings of fruits and vegetables daily (ACHA, 2011). In addition, nearly half of the 104, 826 participating U.S college students, when asked if they had ever received information on nutrition from their colleges, responded that they had not. In addition, nearly 60% said they would be interested in receiving such information (ACHA, 2011). Therefore college environments provide opportunities for implementing interventions that encourage healthier lifestyles and enhancement of self-efficacy and healthy decision-making. …