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Process and Outcome Evaluation of a Social-Networking Website for Health Promotion

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Title	Process and Outcome Evaluation of a Social-Networking Website for Health Promotion
Author	Ormseth, Sarah
Abstract	Overweight and obesity pose a significant threat to the health and wellbeing of college students. However, studies of interventions to improve the health behaviors of college students are few in number, largely atheoretical, and have limited potential for widespread dissemination. The goal of this study was to evaluate a pilot of an internet based social-networking intervention to promote health behavior change. Specific aims were to assess the role of behavioral engagement as a mechanism of change over time, review qualitative feedback regarding participants’ likes and dislikes of the website, and use social networking analysis (SNA) to analyze structural support and its effects on behavior change. The sample consisted of 39 students from the Loma Linda University School of Public Health. Participants each selected a specific health behavior goal that they wished to achieve in the 10-week period of the study and completed the web-based individual health behavior change project as part of the coursework. Results showed a significant improvement in participant health behavior across the course of the study period. Results also indicated that level of peer feedback and support received significantly moderated change in health behavior across time such that greater improvement in health behavior was observed in those who received a greater amount of peer feedback. Qualitative analysis revealed participants reported the features of peer feedback, personal blog, and line graph of heath behavior change to be the most helpful. The most commonly reported frustrations were website technical difficulties, particularly at the start of the study. The SNA showed that indegree (number of ties received) and, to a lesser extent, outdegree (number of ties originated with another) predicted attainment of clinically significant change. Furthermore, examination of the structural network diagram revealed that more concentrated sets of reciprocal ties existed among participants who attained clinically significant change. Although further research is needed, these findings suggest that web-based social support interventions may be effective in promoting change in variety of health behaviors and that SNA is a useful technique for investigating the influence of aspects of structural support on health behavior change.
Discipline	General Psychology
Department	Psychology
School	School of Science and Technology
Advisor	Owen, Jason
Degree Name	Master of Arts
Degree Level	M.A.
Year Degree Awarded	2011
Date (Title Page)	2011-03
Language	English
Subject - LCSH	Obesity Health Social Networks
Subject - Local	Social Networking; Health Promotion;
Type	Thesis
Page count	112 p.
Digital format	Application/PDF
Digital Publisher	Loma Linda University Libraries
Copyright	Author
Usage Rights	This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.
Citation Information	To cite the digital version, include its Reference URL, found by following the link in the gray header above the digital file.
Collection	Loma Linda University Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Collection Website	http://archives.llu.edu/colls/lludis
Repository	Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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