Efficacy of an educational intervention in the health behavior of college students

Includes bibliographical references (pages 38-41)An extensive literature review disclosed that many different health assessment questionnaires have been developed and implemented over the past ten years. These assessments have attempted to assess the risk of becoming ill or evaluate the current status of an individual's physical health. Assessments aimed at college students have generally examined health knowledge rather than attitudes and behaviors. However, none of the assessments have sought to modify health behavior except by providing clients with suggestions for further reading or by graphically representing the health risk profile of the individual.\ud Subjects for this study included 309 students at California State University, Northridge and Los Angeles Pierce College. A wellness instrument designed in part by the investigator was administered. A specific educational intervention was designed, implemented, and evaluated.\ud The assessment identified 96 students with excessive salt/sugar intake. An experimental-control, pre-post design was employed. The experimental group received a written educational intervention which encouraged subjects to reduce their salt/sugar consumption. (See more in text.