Educator and Participant Perceptions and Cost Analysis of Stage-tailored Educational Telephone Calls

Objective: To identify strengths and weaknesses of nutrition education via telephone calls as part of a larger stage-of-change tailored intervention with mailed materials. Design: Evaluative feedback was elicited from educators who placed the calls and respondents who received the calls. Setting: An internet and telephone survey of 10 states in the midwestern United States. Participants: 21 educators in 10 states reached via the internet and 50 young adults reached via telephone. Variables Measured and Analysis: Rankings of intervention components, ratings of key aspects of educational calls, and cost data (as provided by a lead researcher in each state) were summarized via descriptive statistics. Results, Conclusions, and Implications: Educational calls used 6 to 17 minutes of preparation time, required 8 to 15 minutes of contact time, and had a mean estimated cost of $5.82 per call. Low-income young adults favored print materials over educational calls. However, the calls were reported to have positive effects on motivating participants to set goals. Educators who use educational telephone calls to reach young adults, a highly mobile target audience, may require a robust and flexible contact plan. © 2008 SOCIETY FOR NUTRITION EDUCATION

Evaluation of the Food Store Environment On and Near the Campus of 15 Postsecondary Institutions

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the food stores on and near postsecondary campuses varying in institutional size.DESIGN: The design of the study is an environmental audit survey.SETTING: Fifteen U.S. postsecondary education institutions participated in this study between 2009-2011.SUBJECTS: Eighty-one stores (44% grocery, 17% campus, and 39% convenience/drug) were evaluated.MEASURES: The Nutrition Environment Measures Survey for Stores was modified to evaluate food stores. Analysis. Analysis of variance with post hoc Tukey B and t-tests assessed differences between store types and by institutional size.RESULTS: Grocery stores had significantly higher scores than campus/convenience stores for healthy foods (19.5 ± 3.8 vs. 2.4 ± 1.7), and for the availability (19.5 ± 3.8 vs. 2.4 ± 1.7) and quality (5.9 ± 0.5 vs. 1.8 ± 2.2) of fruits/vegetables (p \u3c .001). Healthy foods and beverages were significantly more expensive (-0.6 ± 3.4 vs. 0.9 ± 2.0; p \u3c .031) than their less healthful alternatives in grocery stores, but not in convenience stores. There were no differences by institutional size for grocery stores; however, smaller institutions\u27 convenience stores had significantly lower availability and quality of fruits/vegetables and total food store environment scores.CONCLUSION: A college campus provides a food environment with an array of shopping venues, most of which are not consistent with dietary recommendations for obesity prevention. The limited quality of healthy food in on-campus and convenience stores and the exacerbated deficiencies for small postsecondary institutions provide evidence to support environmental and policy initiatives to improve the quality of campus food store environments

The Development and Preliminary Validation of the Behavior, Environment, and Changeability Survey (BECS)

Objective: To develop and test the validity of the Behavior, Environment, and Changeability Survey (BECS) for identifying the importance and changeability of nutrition, exercise, and stress management behavior and related aspects of the environment. Design: A cross-sectional, online survey of the BECS and selected validated instruments. Setting: Ten state universities. Participants: A convenience sample of college students (n = 1,283), ages 18-24 years. Analysis: Principal component analysis was used to confirm a 6-component structure of the BECS in 2 independent samples for the purpose of cross-validation. Internal consistency was measured and construct and criterion-related analyses were conducted to test the reliability and validity of the BECS subscales. Results: Six components representing 34 BECS items were revealed from the original 69 items and explained 64% of the total variance. Six scales were retained, and internal consistency of each ranged from α = .82 to .93. BECS Nutrition Behavior and Nutrition Changeability scale scores were highest for participants in action/maintenance Stages of Change for fruit and vegetable intake. Conclusions and Implications: There is strong support for the use of the BECS when planning health programs to gain insight into behavior that young adults are willing to improve, specifically related to nutrition, exercise, and sleep. © 2012 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior