P77 Development and Validation of a Tool to Assess Top Campus Health Priorities of College Students

Abstract

BackgroundCollege campuses can provide students with a supportive environment for health behavior development. Thus, it is important to understand campus health priorities of students to ensure effective programming.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to develop a survey which college administrators can use to identify campus health priorities.Study Design, Setting, ParticipantsThe survey was developed as part of the larger Get Fruved project and included college community input, content experts, and college students.Measurable Outcome/AnalysisTown hall meetings provided campus health priorities of college communities. A steering committee of health behavior researchers refined the priorities. Content and face validation were conducted using cognitive interviewing methods. A convenience sample of students from 60 colleges and universities was collected to measure reliability and provide top priorities.ResultsTwenty-nine campus health priorities were compiled from the town hall meeting attendees. The steering committee modified the list and added 7 additional priorities. A write-in option was added during content validation, and face validation revealed no major changes. A pilot sample (n = 8215) took the final 31-item survey which provided high reliability (α = 0.93). The priority rated most important regardless of school geographic region, type, setting, or size was that free water should be available in all campus facilities. Other top campus health priorities included safe and accessible walking and biking routes, equal pricing for healthful foods, and more available healthful food options. Among the least important priority was to require first-year and transfer students to take a wellness course.ConclusionsThis process provided a tool that was well developed and validated for college campuses to use to improve health promotion activities. Because free water availability was deemed the most important priority regardless of school characteristic, additional exploration is warranted to understand why and what improvements college campuses can make. College campuses can provide students with a supportive environment for health behavior development. Thus, it is important to understand campus health priorities of students to ensure effective programming. The purpose of this study was to develop a survey which college administrators can use to identify campus health priorities. The survey was developed as part of the larger Get Fruved project and included college community input, content experts, and college students. Town hall meetings provided campus health priorities of college communities. A steering committee of health behavior researchers refined the priorities. Content and face validation were conducted using cognitive interviewing methods. A convenience sample of students from 60 colleges and universities was collected to measure reliability and provide top priorities. Twenty-nine campus health priorities were compiled from the town hall meeting attendees. The steering committee modified the list and added 7 additional priorities. A write-in option was added during content validation, and face validation revealed no major changes. A pilot sample (n = 8215) took the final 31-item survey which provided high reliability (α = 0.93). The priority rated most important regardless of school geographic region, type, setting, or size was that free water should be available in all campus facilities. Other top campus health priorities included safe and accessible walking and biking routes, equal pricing for healthful foods, and more available healthful food options. Among the least important priority was to require first-year and transfer students to take a wellness course. This process provided a tool that was well developed and validated for college campuses to use to improve health promotion activities. Because free water availability was deemed the most important priority regardless of school characteristic, additional exploration is warranted to understand why and what improvements college campuses can make.