Jessica Kruger

Pokémon GO: Healthy or harmful?

The authors reflect on the potential health benefits and harms that may be associated with playing the Pokemon Go mobile application game, and it mentions how Pokemon Go requires players to move in order to capture various types of mobile game creatures. According to the article, several Pokemon Go players have been injured in gameplay-related driving, biking, and walking accidents. The public health-related aspects of Pokemon Go are assessed, along with socialization and obesity prevention.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Experiential Learning in a Student-Run Free Clinic:

Experiential learning is an important contributor to higher education. Incorporating experiential learning into a program of study helps provide a new avenue for the application of theory to practice. These activities are often in the form of volunteer services, which help students translate classroom learning into real-world solutions, address community needs, help students serve their neighbors, facilitate campus–community collaboration, and connect students with local organizations. This article describes an assessment of educationally relevant experiences at a student-run free health clinic. The majority of students believed that their clinic experiences fit well into their academic curriculum and schedule. They considered this a positive and worthwhile endeavor, both because of their own personal gain in knowledge, skills, and experiences and because of the direct benefit to the local community. Overall, the students’ experiences were very positive and were consistent with achieving the clinic’s and the university’s goals.

Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model to Address Drunkorexia among College Students

ABSTRACT Background: The many consequences related to alcohol consumption among college students are well documented. Drunkorexia, a relatively new term and area of research, is characterized by skipping meals to reduce caloric intake and/or exercising excessively in attempt to compensate for calories associated with high volume drinking. Objective: The objective of this study was to use the Elaboration Likelihood Model to compare the impact of central and peripheral prevention messages on alcohol consumption and drunkorexic behavior. Methods: Researchers employed a quasi-experimental design, collecting pre- or post-test data from 172 college students living in residence halls at a large Midwestern university, to assess the impact of the prevention messages. Participants in the treatment groups received the message in person (flyer), through email, and via a text message in weekly increments. Results: Results showed that participants exposed to the peripherally framed message decreased the frequency of their alcohol consumption over a 30-day period (p =.003), the number of drinks they consumed the last time they drank (p =.029), the frequency they had more than five drinks over a 30-day period (p =.019), as well as the maximum number of drinks they had on any occasion in the past 30 days (p =.014). Conclusions/Importance: While more research is needed in this area, the findings from this study indicate that researchers and practitioners should design peripheral (short and succinct), rather than central (complex and detailed), messages to prevent drunkorexia and its associated behaviors.

Primary versus secondary prevention messages: College students' perceptions of effectiveness by marijuana user status

Abstract Objective: With medical and recreational marijuana legislation expanding throughout the country, the need to educate high-risk populations is evident. The purpose of this study was to assess college students’ perceptions of health communication messages comparing primary and secondary prevention messages concerning marijuana. Participants: Participants (n = 487) included college students, ages 18–25, enrolled in a Midwestern University. Methods: Participants assessed messages based on likeability, creativity, believability, persuasiveness, relevance, and usefulness using an online questionnaire that also included open-end comments. Results: Rasch analyses indicate that nonmarijuana users rated primary prevention messages higher than secondary prevention messages, whereas marijuana users ranked secondary prevention messages more favorably than primary prevention messages. Conclusion: Interventions designed to address marijuana use among college students may be more effective if tailored toward user status. Specifically, primary prevention materials should be designed for abstainers, while secondary prevention messages that focus on harm reduction strategies should be used with marijuana users.

Caffeine and Calorie Consumption at a College Campus Coffee Café

Coffee and tea consumption has substantially increased among young adults in the United States across the past few decades, particularly on college campuses. In this study, we observed beverage purchases at a campus coffee shop across an academic term at a university in the Midwestern USA. Although results do not indicate a gender difference in average drink size, women consumed more calories and a greater proportion of daily-recommended calories on average than men did. Men consumed more caffeine on average than women did. Our project demonstrates how observational research methods can provide a better understanding of health issues in a college population.