Improving physical activity, mental health outcomes, and academic retention in college students with Freshman 5 to thrive: COPE/Healthy lifestyles. Issue 6 (18th June 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Melnyk, Bernadette; Kelly, Stephanie; Jacobson, Diana; Arcoleo, Kimberly; Shaibi, Gabriel
• Is Part Of: Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Volume 26:Issue 6(2014)
• Page Start: 314
• Page End: 322
• Publication Date: 2013-06-18
• Subjects: Nurse practitioners -- Periodicals; Nursing -- Periodicals; 610.730692
• DOI: 10.1002/2327-6924.12037
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2327-6886

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="jaan12037-sec-0010" sec-type="section"> <title>Purpose</title> <p>To assess the preliminary effects of a new course entitled <italic>Freshman 5 to Thrive</italic>/<italic>COPE Healthy Lifestyles</italic> on the cognitive beliefs, knowledge, mental health outcomes, healthy lifestyle choices, physical activity, and retention of college freshmen.</p> </sec> <sec id="jaan12037-sec-0020" sec-type="section"> <title>Data sources</title> <p>Measures included demographics, nutrition knowledge, healthy lifestyle beliefs, healthy lifestyle perceived difficulty, healthy lifestyle choices, Beck Youth Inventories‐II (anxiety, depression, anxiety, and destructive behavior), step count via pedometer, and college retention.</p> </sec> <sec id="jaan12037-sec-0030" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>The experimental COPE (Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment) group had greater intentions to live a healthy lifestyle (<italic>p</italic> = .02) versus the comparison group. COPE students also significantly increased their physical activity (<italic>p</italic> = .003) from baseline to postintervention and had a higher college retention rate than students who did not take the course. In addition, there was a significant decrease in depressive and anxiety symptoms in COPE students whose baseline scores were elevated.</p> </sec> <sec id="jaan12037-sec-0040" sec-type="section"> <title>Implications for practice</title> <p>The Freshman 5 to Thrive Course is a promising intervention that can be used to enhance healthy lifestyle behaviors and improve mental health outcomes in college freshmen.</p> </sec> </abstract>