Background
Methods
Participants
Question guide
Initial codebook development
Focus groups
Data analysis and final codebook development
Results
Characteristic | Total (n[%]) | |
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Gender | Female | 33 (75%) |
Male | 11 (25%) | |
Age (yrs) (mean ± SD) | 19.4 ± 1.9 | |
BMI Category | BMI (kg/m2) (mean ± SD) | 22.7 ± 3.5 |
Underweight (BMI < 18.5) | 6 (14%) | |
Normal (BMI 18.5–25) | 26 (60%) | |
Overweight (BMI 25–30) | 8 (18%) | |
Obese (BMI 30+) | 1 (2%) | |
No response | 3 (7%) | |
Hispanic | Hispanic | 8 (18%) |
Not Hispanic | 36 (82%) | |
Race | Multiraciala | 9 (20%) |
Asian (Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese) | 17 (39%) | |
White | 15 (34%) | |
Not reported | 3 (7%) | |
Class Standing | Freshmen | 18 (41%) |
Sophomore | 6 (14%) | |
Junior | 8 (18%) | |
Senior | 7 (16%) | |
5th year / grad student | 1 (2%) | |
No Response | 4 (9%) | |
Major | Biological Sciencesb | 16 (36%) |
Health Focusc | 6 (14%) | |
Other | 22 (50%) |
Barrier | Definition | Exemplifying Quotation | |
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Individuala | Lack of Knowledge | Lack of knowledge of how to obtain or prepare food, lack of nutrition knowledge or inability to identify healthy foods |
“I think my biggest barrier is definitely not knowing what I’m doing. Just not knowing what to buy, not knowing what to cook to be healthy.”
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Attitudes and Beliefs | Regarding healthy eating as undesirable |
“I feel like eating healthy is kind of a chore. It’s healthy but it doesn’t taste the best. It doesn’t make me happy, because you’re supposed to enjoy eating.”
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Attitude and Beliefs: Prioritization | Regarding healthy eating as not a priority in relation to other factors |
“After a long day of school […] we worry more about convenience than health.”
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Attitude and Beliefs: Procrastination | Regarding healthy eating as not urgent |
“Not until something affects them do they really realize like, ‘Oh I should probably change my eating habits’”
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Attitude and Beliefs: Thriftiness | Believing resources should be used carefully and waste avoided | “I think it’s hard for a lot of college students to eat healthy in the dining halls because it’s all-you-can-eat. You want to get your money’s worth.” | |
Behaviors | Performing peripheral behaviors that hinder healthy eating |
“You take a handful of [brand name snack] and go study. Studying is really boring and you’re not focusing well. Then you get another handful and then you go get another handful. Then you bring the box in your room [laughter]. And […] you’re basically unconsciously just eating them as you study and you don’t even recognize [how much] you’ve eaten.”
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Taste Preference | Preference for the taste of foods perceived to be unhealthy | “I’m not going to suffer through gross, I’m going to go eat pizza [laughs].” | |
Social Environmentalb | Peer Pressure | Pressure from peers to engage in unhealthy eating behaviors |
“I would never eat past 8, but when everyone’s hanging out, eating like chips and stuff, […] and it’s there and [you’re] like, “Oh okay, I’ll have like a few chips.” I’d never […] do that at home. So it’s the social part.”
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Parental Influence | Parental influence that encourages unhealthy eating behaviors |
“Students may also change their eating habits on purpose because they were limited by their parents or guardians. Because it’s ‘Eat your vegetables,’ and now there’s nobody so there’s no restrictions.”
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Physical Environmentalc | Institutional Environment | Aspects of the college environment that hinder healthy eating |
“There’s definitely ways to be healthy on campus, but there’s a lot of places here that have better, healthier options that are way more expensive.”
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Living Situation | Negative impact of living situation on available food options |
“If I had an apartment with a kitchen I would be better off because I could just cook for myself.”
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Lack of Facilities | Lack of food storage space or utensils that hinder healthy eating | “All I had was a mini fridge and a microwave and my food suddenly became ramen and whatever was just I could order [online] so not really many fruits or veggies”. | |
Location | Lack of proximity to grocery stores or commute hindering healthy eating |
“Because a lot of us aren’t from here, we don’t have that access—Well, I mean, we have the bus, but it’s not like we can take so many groceries with us on the bus. It’s difficult for us to… wander away from campus to go buy what we need.”
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Macrosystemd | Cost | Negative impact of cost on healthy food options |
“I can get a lot more out of my money if I’m buying things like pastas, cereals, those kinds of fast filling foods. Rather than buying fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat [which are] expensive as well […] it’s much more cost effective.”
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Lack of Education | Characteristics of the educational system that hinder healthy eating |
“In the education system, we’ve taken out so many things that are important, you know? When- when my parents- just older generations talk about school, they had a lot of life skills classes […] they had home-ec.”
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Enabler | Definition | Exemplifying Quote | |
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Individuala | Knowledge | Knowledge or awareness of nutrition, understanding of dietary restrictions, and ability to identify healthy foods |
“Being aware really does help. I took nutrition and fitness last year. It honestly did change the way I ate a little bit because I just learned a lot about eating habits and what’s in food and things like that.”
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Attitude and Beliefs | Perceptions that make healthy eating desirable | “It’s not about the body for me, it’s about the energy. That’s how I look at it. Food is energy.” | |
Attitude and Beliefs: Prioritization | Belief that healthy eating is a priority in relation to other factors |
“I’m the most disorganized person ever. But [meal prep] is a priority in my life. So every Sunday I cook seven dinners and then snacks and then I freeze them.”
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Attitude and Beliefs: Thriftiness | Belief that resources should be used carefully and waste avoided |
“A recipe makes a certain amount and you’re like “well I don’t want to waste this or it won’t fit in my fridge and to me being wasteful is really being part of being healthy.” Like being healthy to the planet.”
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Dietary Restrictions | Having a health condition that requires a particular diet |
“last year, I had to go to the doctor a lot because I didn’t know what was going on with me. So I guess that’s why you have to be healthy [….] Even though you don’t want to do it, you still have to.”
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Behaviors | Performing peripheral behaviors that foster healthy eating |
“I take time to meal prep and so I can eat healthy and it’s easier for me to choose a healthy snack.”
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Social Environmentalb | Parental Influence | Parental influence on the home eating environment that encourages healthy eating behaviors |
“When it’s at home your parents monitor what you eat. Like, ‘No, you’re not going to eat half a pan of brownies.’”
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Peer Support | Interpersonal support for healthy behavior change as a bonding/shared activity |
“[my best friend and I] go workout together, make dinner together. It was because that we had each other that we were like ok like ‘tonight we’re gonna do this it’s gonna be great’. You make it fun.”
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Physical Environmentalc | Institutional Environment | Aspects of the college environment that foster healthy eating |
“One of the things I do like about UH though is the farmers market that they have. Where it has those fruits and vegetables. That’s at a really good price. So it’s almost like having a mini grocery store. So I appreciate the school giving us that much.”
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Living Situation | Positive impact of living situation on available food options |
“Now I live off campus and I pack lunches every day, so I’m not buying the food [on campus] since there are the limited healthy options [….] I definitely see better eating habits now that I’m living off campus as opposed to living on campus.”
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Macrosystemd | Social Media | Positive impact of social media on eating habits |
“Social media now, too, is an enabler. Because there’s so many more like, vegan, vegetarian, like healthy food pages that you can find recipes on that are pretty make-able […] I think socially and society-wise, it’s being more promoted.”
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Cost | Positive impact of cost on healthy food options |
“if we have a little more money […] then it might be easier for some students to figure out what food they want that’s more of a priority to them - which might be the more expensive healthier food.”
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