A Community Based Participatory Approach to Training Young Adults to Design and Implement a Social Marketing Framed Lifestyle Intervention on Their College Campus

Abstract

Background: Using a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach may increase the likelihood of relevance and acceptability of the designed intervention, especially on a college campus. Furthermore, recruiting and training college students to design a social marketing framed healthy lifestyle intervention for their peers will allow the intervention to be tailored to the needs of the campus. Objectives: To describe the process of online-course training college students to develop a campus-based, social marketing health promotion intervention. Methods: Four universities recruited current college students (18+ y.o.) to develop a social marketing and environmental intervention (SMEI), which was completed during a 16-week, online/in-person hybrid semester course. Researchers and Extension professionals trained students to design 24 weeks of intervention events that would be implemented the upcoming year. Results: Seventy-eight students enrolled in the study and social marketing and environmental intervention course among the four intervention states (Florida = 30, South Dakota = 8, Tennessee = 13, West Virginia = 27); students were predominately Caucasian (65.8%), females (84.0%), and sophomore status in college (64.9%). Throughout the semester, students assessed their campus environments, set priorities, and developed weekly events and resources needed to implement the intervention on their campuses. By the end of the semester, with researcher support, students had designed 24 weeks of intervention events (marketing, recruiting, and implementation) focusing on nutrition/food/diet, physical activity, stress management, sleep, and time management. These events and resources were catalogued into a digital toolkit of instructions and activities for each week of intervention events. Conclusion: Using a Community-Based Participatory Research approach with college students interested in health allows for the development of an intervention that stems from grass roots efforts and is tailored to the acceptability and needs of their peers.

Associations of Lifestyle Patterns With Overweight and Depressive Symptoms Among United States Emerging Adults With Different Employment Statuses

“…According to Erikson’s stages of development [ 3 ], young people at this stage are faced with shifting identities, and the different identities might have a persistent and far-reaching impact on their behaviors [ 1 , 78 ]. However, most extant studies on emerging adult-specific lifestyle interventions merely consider the campus environment when carrying out community-based practices [ 70 , 74 ]. Workers in emerging adulthood have always been neglected.…”

Health Behaviors of Student Community Research Partners When Designing and Implementing a Healthy Lifestyle Intervention on College Campuses

“…During the 15-week course, SMEI students were trained to develop a peer-led social marketing campaign intervention focused on three main topic areas: diet, physical activity, and stress management [ 27 ]. Within Get Fruved, these areas were targeted as specific zones of healthy living that can impact well-being long term.…”

“…The purpose of this article is to describe changes in self-reported behaviors of SMEI and PM after training, designing, and implementing the Get Fruved pilot intervention [ 27 ] compared to control students. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study assessing the behavior change of young adult community partners across the course of designing and implementing a health promotion intervention for their peers.…”

Community-Based Participatory Research: Partnering with College Students to Develop a Tailored, Wellness-Focused Intervention for University Campuses

“…Community-based participatory research approaches have been shown to lead to sustainable health behavior change [ 15 ]. Among college student populations, the reduction of risky health behaviors has been a foci of many CBPR interventions, such as reducing excessive alcohol consumption, improving nutrition and dietary quality, reducing sedentary lifestyle, suicide prevention, reduction and awareness of substance abuse, among others [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Using a community-wide approach to health programming has also proven to have a positive long-term return on investment by reducing work absenteeism and healthcare costs associated with obesity and chronic disease [ 19 ].…”

“…A study by Barr et al utilized a similar approach to lead a college course for students who were interested in aiding with the development of a social marketing and environmental intervention [ 24 ]. Authors found that participating in the courses resulted in greater physical activity and less stress compared to a control group of students, and the social marketing campaign that was developed was tailored to their peers’ health needs [ 17 ].…”