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TechnographProject PEER prepares freshmen for healthy year
By Marie Wilson
Posted: 9/5/08 Section: News
While many incoming college students may dread gaining the "freshman 15," 160 female freshmen are taking part in a study that may help them avoid the weight gain.
A team of three professors and about 20 upperclassmen in the departments of Kinesiology, Community Health and Food Science and Human Nutrition recruited the students to participate in Project PEER: Peer education, Exercising and Eating Right.
Weight management is one of the study's goals, but it will focus more on testing the effectiveness of peer counseling about exercise and nutrition than on preventing weight gain, said Ellen Evans, the project's director and associate professor of kinesiology and community health.
"We were not looking for people who were overweight or obese or normal weight. We were looking for the whole spectrum," she said. "It's not necessarily about weight loss."
Evans said the program aims to promote self-efficacy and healthy lifestyle choices - practices that the freshmen can carry with them after their time in Project PEER.
"The overall goal is to see if support groups and peer intervention can improve wellness," said Devon Romano, senior in ACES and peer educator for the study.
Evans and her research team, which includes Kinesiology and Community Health Professor Edward McAuley and Food Science and Human Nutrition Professor Karen Chapman-Novakofski, are in the process of collecting and organizing baseline data about the participants.
Once the data analysis is complete, the researchers will randomly divide the participants into a control group and an intervention group.
The students in the intervention group will attend six weekly, hour-long group meetings, starting the week of Sept. 15. At these meetings, peer educators, who are juniors or seniors in kinesiology and dietetics, will present information about how to eat and exercise right, and how to stay motivated.
"I think that it's going to teach them most importantly to take ownership of their wellness," said Amanda Ramirez, senior in AHS and a peer educator for the study.
A team of three professors and about 20 upperclassmen in the departments of Kinesiology, Community Health and Food Science and Human Nutrition recruited the students to participate in Project PEER: Peer education, Exercising and Eating Right.
Weight management is one of the study's goals, but it will focus more on testing the effectiveness of peer counseling about exercise and nutrition than on preventing weight gain, said Ellen Evans, the project's director and associate professor of kinesiology and community health.
"We were not looking for people who were overweight or obese or normal weight. We were looking for the whole spectrum," she said. "It's not necessarily about weight loss."
Evans said the program aims to promote self-efficacy and healthy lifestyle choices - practices that the freshmen can carry with them after their time in Project PEER.
"The overall goal is to see if support groups and peer intervention can improve wellness," said Devon Romano, senior in ACES and peer educator for the study.
Evans and her research team, which includes Kinesiology and Community Health Professor Edward McAuley and Food Science and Human Nutrition Professor Karen Chapman-Novakofski, are in the process of collecting and organizing baseline data about the participants.
Once the data analysis is complete, the researchers will randomly divide the participants into a control group and an intervention group.
The students in the intervention group will attend six weekly, hour-long group meetings, starting the week of Sept. 15. At these meetings, peer educators, who are juniors or seniors in kinesiology and dietetics, will present information about how to eat and exercise right, and how to stay motivated.
"I think that it's going to teach them most importantly to take ownership of their wellness," said Amanda Ramirez, senior in AHS and a peer educator for the study.
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