Food insecurity means having limited or uncertain access, in socially acceptable ways, to an adequate and safe food supply. Ample evidence has identified college students as vulnerable to this problem, but little research has focused on freshmen. This cross-sectional study examined family and campus food insecurity among freshmen at a university in Appalachia. An online questionnaire contained sociodemographic items and scales that measured food security status, academic progress, coping strategies for accessing food, and social support. T-tests and Chi square analyses compared food insecure and food secure students. Statistical significance was p < .05. Participants were 456 freshmen, 118 males (26%) and 331 females (73%). Family and campus food insecurity were experienced by 32 (7.1%) and 98 (21.5%) of the freshmen, respectively, and 42.5% of those who experienced campus food insecurity believed their food access had worsened since starting college. Family and campus coping strategies, respectively, included stretching food (72.9 vs. 18.4%) and purchasing cheap, processed food (68.8 vs. 16.3%). Food secure students scored significantly higher on self-rated measures of academic progress (p < .01), and greater proportions of food secure students (60.7 vs. 43.9%, p < .01) perceived their eating habits since starting college as "healthy/very healthy," and perceived their health status as "good/excellent" (86.0 vs. 71.4%, p < .01). Students requested assistance with job opportunities (19.4%), affordable meal plans (18.4%), money management (13.3%), and eating healthy (11.2%). Findings suggest that college student food insecurity begins during the freshmen year, and that there is a need for campus and community-based interventions to increase food access among these freshmen and their families.
Results provide insight into the role of physical activity in a highly active sample and have implications for professionals working in physical activity settings with the multiple sclerosis population. Interventions aimed at increasing long-term physical activity adherence should focus on increasing autonomy and competence for physical activity in the individual and promoting potential increased quality of life outcomes from physical activity participation. Implications for Rehabilitation Multiple sclerosis is a chronic degenerative neurological disease that the individual lives with for a majority of the lifespan. Physical activity is one means that has been shown to aid is the control of multiple sclerosis symptoms. Increasing patient understanding of the benefits of using physical activity as a means to control multiple sclerosis symptoms may result in long-term physical activity adherence. Physical activity interventions that develop feelings of competence and independent choice in the patient may be more successful for long-term participation.
The findings and resulting model may be used to develop more effective interventions to promote physical activity participation in individuals diagnosed with MS and consequently enhance long-term QoL. Implications for Rehabilitation Regular physical activity aids in symptom management and disease control in individuals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, yet this population is consistently highly physically inactive. The complexity of the psychological factors influencing physical activity participation in individuals diagnosed with MS needs to be considered when developing physical activity interventions. Interventions that focus on increasing self-efficacy and identified regulation during physical activity are a means to increase long-term physical activity participation in individuals diagnosed with MS. Long-term increases in physical activity levels may directly contribute to increases in overall quality of life and should, therefore, be a priority for health care professionals when developing overall disease management protocols.
Physical activity has been shown to effectively aid multiple sclerosis symptom management; however, individuals with multiple sclerosis tend to be inactive physically. Developing effective, sustainable, physical activity interventions involves first understanding motivators for physical activity. Open-ended surveys exploring physical activity motivators were collected from 215 individuals with multiple sclerosis. Responses indicate that self-efficacy and internalized motivation derived from physical activity outcomes were motivators for physical activity, and physical activity was cited as increasing overall quality of life. Future physical activity interventions should incorporate methods for building self-efficacy for physical activity and focus on increasing awareness of the long-term physical benefits derived from physical activity.
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