College Students' Barriers and Enablers for Healthful Weight Management: A Qualitative Study
Abstract
Objective
To identify barriers and enablers for healthful weight management among college students.
Design
Sixteen on-line focus groups, homogeneous by sex and university.
Setting
Eight universities in 8 states.
Participants
College students (N = 115; 55% female; mean age 19.7 ± 1.6).
Analysis
Qualitative software, Nvivo version 2 (QSR International, Victoria, Australia, 2002), was used; similar codes were grouped together and categorized using an ecological model.
Results
Males and females cited the same barriers to weight management: intrapersonal (eg, temptation and lack of discipline); interpersonal (social situations); and environmental (eg, time constraints, ready access to unhealthful food). Similar enablers were identified by sex: intrapersonal (eg, regulating food intake, being physically active); interpersonal (social support); and environmental (eg, university's environment supports physical activity). More barriers than enablers were given, indicating that these college students were more sensitive to barriers than the enablers for weight management. Factors viewed by some students as barriers to weight management were viewed as enablers by others.
Conclusions and Implications
When designing weight management interventions for college students, sex specificity may not be as important as considering that a barrier for one student may be an enabler for another. From an ecological perspective, individually focused interventions must be implemented in conjunction with environmental-level interventions to facilitate behavior change.
1Public Health Nutrition, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
2Program in Gerontology, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
3Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Maine, Orono, ME
4Cornell Cooperative Extension, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
5Department of Kinesiology, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
6Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
7Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
Address for correspondence: Mary L. Greaney, PhD, Public Health Nutrition, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115; Phone: (617) 432-3726; Fax: (617) 432-3755
The study was supported by the National Research Initiative of the United States Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, grant number #2005-35215-15412.
ABSTRACT