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1 – 10 of over 5000Katie Szymona, Virginia Quick, Melissa Olfert, Karla Shelnutt, Kendra K. Kattlemann, Onikia Brown‐Esters, Sarah E. Colby, Christina Beaudoin, Jocelyn Lubniewski, Angelina Moore Maia, Tanya Horacek and Carol Byrd‐Bredbenner
Little is known about health‐related advertising on university environments. Given the power of advertising and its potential effect on health behaviors, the purpose of this paper…
Abstract
Purpose
Little is known about health‐related advertising on university environments. Given the power of advertising and its potential effect on health behaviors, the purpose of this paper is to assess the health‐related advertisement environment and policies on university campuses.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, ten geographically and ethnically diverse US university campuses that were trained in using the health‐related advertisement survey tool participated in the study. Inter‐rater reliability with data collectors at each university was established before data commencement began in Spring 2011. The survey tool assessed the types, locations, and prevalence of health‐related advertisements and messages (e.g. nutrition, alcohol, tobacco) on campus, and included both advertisements and messages related to any aspect of health by any sponsor. Current campus health‐related policies from each institution were collected as well.
Findings
The largest proportion of advertisements on all campuses were for diet/nutrition, exercise/fitness, and alcohol. The majority of advertisements promoted positive health behaviors recommended by health professionals. Unbranded advertisements were more likely to promote positive health behaviors than branded advertisements. Diet/nutrition, tobacco, and drug advertisements were more likely to be positive, whereas alcohol‐related advertisements tended to be negative.
Originality/value
The paper's findings indicate significant gaps in campus health‐related policies with regard to healthy eating and physical activity and lack of policies covering health‐related advertisement content. Benchmark data like those reported here can help campus stakeholders set priorities and work with campus decision makers to advocate for the development and implementation of healthy campus policies that support healthy environments.
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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.
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Katie Szymona, Virginia Quick and Carol Byrd‐Bredbenner
Advertising can affect health‐related behaviors of young adults. However, little is known about this environmental influence on college campuses. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Advertising can affect health‐related behaviors of young adults. However, little is known about this environmental influence on college campuses. The purpose of this paper is to create an inventory for assessing health‐related advertisements and use it to assess advertising on/near the campus of a major Northeastern university.
Design/methodology/approach
The inventory was developed from existing instruments, input from experts, and data collected from student focus groups. The instrument was pilot tested, refined, and used by three trained data collectors (inter‐rater reliability =87.5 percent) to assess the advertising in academic buildings (n=10), residence halls (n=3), libraries (n=2), recreation centers (n=3), student centers (n=2), dining halls (n=3), bookstores (n=2), bus stops (n=4), campus student listserves, and retail stores adjacent to campus.
Findings
Of the 130 advertisements, most common types were related to diet/nutrition (41.5 percent) and exercise/fitness (14.6 percent). An evaluation of advertising message polarity revealed 61.5 percent promoted positive health behaviors. Negative messages were mostly related to branded diet/nutrition ads (26 percent). Health‐related advertising on/near this university's campus mostly promoted good health practices in accordance to the university policies. However, improvements in developing university policies with regard to branded diet/nutrition ads on campus are warranted.
Research limitations/implications
The study described in this paper was conducted at one time point at a single university. Future studies should examine seasonal variations and the usefulness of this instrument on other college campuses.
Originality/value
This valid data collection tool will be of benefit to other college campuses and policy makers who wish to identify how to improve campus‐related advertising policies to ensure they promote positive health behaviors.
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Virginia Quick, Kirsten W. Corda, Jennifer Martin-Biggers, Barbara Chamberlin, Donald W Schaffner and Carol Byrd-Bredbenner
The purpose of this paper is to create a series of 30-60-second short videos to promote improved food safety behaviors of middle school youth, determine the feasibility of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to create a series of 30-60-second short videos to promote improved food safety behaviors of middle school youth, determine the feasibility of disseminating the videos through peer networks, and measure their effects on food safety attitudes, perceived social norms, and behaviors of youth.
Design/methodology/approach
Food safety content specialists, learning experts, programmers, illustrators, project managers, instructional designers, scriptwriters, and stakeholders were involved in creation of the Don’t Be Gross short videos before evaluation by middle school youth (sixth to eighth grades). The experimental group (n=220) completed the following activities at about one-week intervals: pre-test, viewed videos, post-test, and follow-up test. The control group (n=112) completed the same activities at similar intervals but did not have access to the videos until after the follow-up test.
Findings
Controlling for grade and gender, linear mixed-effects models revealed significant time by group effects for participants’ perceived susceptibility to foodborne illness; intentions to perform recommended food safety behaviors approached significance. Additionally, compared to the pre-test, the experimental group perceived their friends as being significantly more confident in performing food safety behaviors at post- and follow-up tests. Google Analytics data revealed that the bounce rate from the home page of the videos was low (38 percent) suggesting that the videos were engaging.
Originality/value
The Don’t Be Gross videos were liked by youth and shared among their peers and may have the potential to promote positive food safety behaviors and intentions among youth.
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Virginia Quick, Carol Byrd-Bredbenner and Kirsten W. Corda
The purpose of this paper is to examine key determinants (i.e. knowledge, perceived susceptibility, attitudes, confidence, behavioral intentions) associated with practicing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine key determinants (i.e. knowledge, perceived susceptibility, attitudes, confidence, behavioral intentions) associated with practicing health-protective behaviors that could inform development of programs and strategies for improving food handling behaviors of middle school youth.
Design/methodology/approach
Middle schoolers (n=1,102; 50 percent boys) completed a questionnaire with the following topics: demographics, food safety knowledge, usual food safety behaviors, perceived susceptibility to foodborne illness, attitude toward food safety, confidence (self-efficacy) in practicing safe food handling procedures, and intended safe food handling behaviors.
Findings
Middle schoolers had insufficient food safety knowledge ( ˜50 percent incorrect responses) even though most reported washing their hands before making a snack and washing fruits and vegetables before eating them. Spearman correlation analyses indicated that food safety knowledge and perceived susceptibility to foodborne illness was weakly correlated (r s≤0.18) and in some instances not significantly correlated with actual behaviors, attitudes, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions. Attitudes, behavioral intentions, and self-efficacy were key determinants that were significantly and highly correlated (r s<0.70) with each other. Additionally, knowing when to wash hands was significantly correlated (r s≤0.13) with actual handwashing behaviors, and attitudes, behavioral intentions, and self-efficacy whereas knowing how to wash hands was not.
Originality/value
Food safety interventions for youth should aim to increase knowledge, challenge perceptions of susceptibility to foodborne illness, and motivate adoption of new safe food handling behaviors, while supporting their already positive food safety attitudes, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions.
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Virginia Quick, Kirsten W. Corda, Barbara Chamberlin, Donald W. Schaffner and Carol Byrd‐Bredbenner
The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of Ninja Kitchen, a food safety educational video game, on middle school students' food safety knowledge, psychographic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of Ninja Kitchen, a food safety educational video game, on middle school students' food safety knowledge, psychographic characteristics, and usual and intended behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
The experimental group (n=903) completed the following activities about one week apart from each other: pretest, played the game, posttest, and follow‐up test. The control group (n=365) completed the same activities at similar intervals but did not have access to the game until after the follow‐up test.
Findings
Linear mixed‐effects models, controlling for gender, grade, and geographic location revealed significant time by group effects for knowledge of safe cooking temperatures for animal proteins and danger zone hazard prevention, and usual produce washing behaviors. Pairwise comparisons, adjusted for multiple comparisons, indicated that after playing the game, the experimental group felt more susceptible to foodborne illness, had stronger attitudes toward the importance of handling food safely and handwashing, had greater confidence in their ability to practice safe food handling, and had greater intentions to practice handwashing and safe food handling. Teachers and students found the game highly acceptable.
Originality/value
The game has the potential to promote positive food safety behaviors among youth, in a fun and educational format.
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Anthony R. Dissen, Peggy Policastro, Virginia Quick and Carol Byrd‐Bredbenner
Little is known about interrelationships among nutrition knowledge, attitude, dietary intake, and body satisfaction, which are important variables that play a role in nutrition…
Abstract
Purpose
Little is known about interrelationships among nutrition knowledge, attitude, dietary intake, and body satisfaction, which are important variables that play a role in nutrition education interventions. This paper aims to focus on these interrelationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Students (n=279; 20.12±1.75SD years) enrolled at a large northeastern US university took an online survey. The survey contained a nutrition knowledge scale, attitude scale, food frequency scales, body areas satisfaction subscale, and demographic characteristics questions. To determine relationships, correlation coefficients were computed, along with forward stepwise regression to identify predictors of each study measure.
Research limitations/implications
Data were collected from a non‐probability sample in one geographical area at one time point.
Findings
In males, significant positive correlations were found between fruit/vegetable servings and attitudes, knowledge, body satisfaction; and between knowledge and attitudes. Stepwise multiple regression analysis found fruit/vegetable servings and percent calories from fat significantly predicted attitudes, while in females attitude was a significant predictor variable for knowledge, fruit/vegetable servings, and percent of calories from fat. Among females, significant positive correlations occurred between attitudes and knowledge, and fruit/vegetable servings and attitudes.
Practical implications
Nutrition and health interventions should incorporate lessons that work to improve one's attitudes toward nutrition. Interventions targeted to males should aim to increase nutrition knowledge, while interventions targeted to females should focus on nutrition knowledge and attitudes.
Originality/value
This paper expands on what is known about young adults and key cognitive factors that influence their nutrition knowledge, attitudes, dietary intake, and body satisfaction. Nutrition educators can utilize the study findings to inform future nutrition interventions.
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To study the use of “Quick Links”, a common navigational element, in the context of an academic library website.
Abstract
Purpose
To study the use of “Quick Links”, a common navigational element, in the context of an academic library website.
Design/methodology/approach
Transaction log files and web server logs are analyzed over a four‐year period to detect patterns in Quick Link usage.
Findings
Provides information about what Quick Links have been used over time, as well as the relationship of Quick Link usage to the rest of the library website. Finds generally that Quick Link usage is prevalent, tilted toward a few of the choices, and is drawn largely from the library homepage as referral source.
Research limitations/implications
Log analysis does not include IP referral data, which limits the ability to determine different patterns of use by specific locations including services desks, off‐campus, and in‐house library usage.
Practical implications
This paper is useful for website usability in terms of design decisions and log analysis.
Originality/value
This paper targets a specific website usability issue over time.
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Eileen E. Hitchingham and Donald Kenney
The University Libraries at Virginia Tech have participated in each iteration of LibQUAL+™ beginning in 1999. This report focuses on the Virginia Tech experience, the results from…
Abstract
The University Libraries at Virginia Tech have participated in each iteration of LibQUAL+™ beginning in 1999. This report focuses on the Virginia Tech experience, the results from the 2001 survey, and what was done with the findings. While most examinations of the survey data centered on determining results associated with feedback from three major constituent groups – undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty – an interesting gender difference across all types of users in the assignment of satisfaction scores was discernible.
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Eunju Ko, Doris Kincade and James R. Brown
The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of business type upon the adoption process for quick response (QR) technologies in the apparel industry. Using Rogers’ (1983…
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of business type upon the adoption process for quick response (QR) technologies in the apparel industry. Using Rogers’ (1983) innovation decision process model as our conceptual basis, we empirically investigated three stages of that process as it pertains to QR adoption: persuasion, decision, and implementation. In our study of 103 US apparel manufacturers, we found business type to impact significantly the firms’ perceptions of benefits to be derived from QR. The perceptions of these benefits, in turn, affected the apparel manufacturers’ adoption of a QR strategy which, in turn, influenced their use of various QR technologies.
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