USF Gym Survey Results Analysis I

Here are some general analysis from the data set observed in the gym within a span of 8 hours inside the gym, there will be another detailed analysis post soon to general ideas of what people do inside and outside the gym.

- Number of participants: 174

- Average Age of participants: 22.3 Years Old

- Number of Male, Female, Prefer not to Answer respectively: 134 (77.01%), 40 (23.99%), 0 (0.00%)

Sex Distribution

- Race: White, 49 (28.16%)

          Black, 56 (32.18%)

          Asian, 18 (10.34%)

          Hispanic, 23 (13.22%)

          Other, 21 (12.07%)

          Prefer not to answer, 7 (4.02%)

Race Distribution

USF Gym Survey

The following questions i created is to get a general ideas about student's view of health inside the University of South Florida's gym.
1. Sex:
    - Male
    - Female
    - Prefer not to answer
2. Race:
    - White
    - Black
    - Asian
    - Hispanic
    - Other
    - Prefer not to answer
3. What exercises do you usually work on?
4. In your perspective, what does it mean by healthy?
5. Do you think that USF gym have enough equipments to meet your desire to be healthy?
6. Do you use any workout supplement, if so, what is it?
7. How often do you use the gym, when?

I plan to analyze the results with around 100 - 150 randomly to see if there are significants within the data set, and to determine if it is indeed diverse with such a small group of people.

USF’s College of Public Health Gives Away Flu Shots

On October 24^th USF had given over 1000 free flu shots. Thanks to this drive fewer people on campus will have no chance getting the flu. This was a great way to promote awareness for the flu.

 In western culture these drives are a great opportunity to help the community, and to spread awareness by word of mouth, educating the people around them. 

Also a big help in the world of health is the media. A individual could prepare themselves if it has become apparent that the community is becoming sick.   Where as in a 3^rd world country this is less occurring. These places are usually much poorer, and cant afford to create a flu shot drive. As a result of this it causes more people to get sick.

For more information on the USF flu drive event click the link to the article below.

The USF Flu Shot Drive

How USF Health is Promoted Compared to a European University (Oxford University)

USF Health Overview

Transforming healthcare practice - MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care at Oxford University

In the USF video it seems to be more focused on cardiovascular care, and the life style of the elderly. I believe this is because in western cultures there is more of a risk for a heart condition than anything else. Mostly due to the fact of a poor diet. I think that the USF video focuses on this matter because poor diet is an alarming threat to this country. Harming the cardiovascular system could lead to heart attacks.  How Oxford University promotes health is that it focuses on convenience, and leaves the student to study what seem best for them. Their promotion video seem to have a lay back feel other than focusing on a particular subject. In the video it reassured the viewer that they would be exploring vast amounts of new medicines and treatments while attending. Europe is healthier than western culture due to their free health care, so this lay back field may have something to do with that.

USF Dining options: Champions choice, On Top of The Pamls, Fresh Food Company

The champions choice dining facility is divided into four food stations: the Gold Energy Zone, Grille Fifty-Six, the Comfort Zone and the Fresh & Green Zone. The Gold Energy Zone provides high carbohydrate foods, such as whole grain pasta and flatbreads. Grille Fifty-Six features nutrient dense items and lean proteins like grilled chicken and vegetables. Student looking for traditional campus dining can visit the Comfort Zone for healthy twists on classic meals. For those craving sandwiches or salads, the Fresh & Green Zone offers made-to-order sandwiches and fresh, locally-grown produce from the salad bar.

On top of the Palms is only open for lunch.  Their bistro menu includes items such as beef, salmon, chicken and tomatoes.  Their chickpea and spinach soup are also available. 

Fresh Food Company offers breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night.  Their three zones are comfort, desert, and Mediterranean.  The Mediterranean is an omelet station. The comfort zone offers a variety of things like sausage patties, eggs and grits.  The dessert station offers the Blueberry scone.  The lunch menu offers popular foods such as delis, salads, hotdogs, fries, and pasta.  Some of the healthier choices there are green beans, kidney beans, spinach, and carrots.  The dinner menu is much similar to lunch only it offers quesadillas.  The late night chefs prepare meals like chicken sandwiches, frsh fruit salads, and turkey macaroni bake.

Student Interview

Here is an anonymous interview I conducted with a female, 18 year old freshman living on campus at USF.  My intention with this interview is not to make a generalized statement about how students feel about health on campus, but simply to get a personal account from one student that can be considered when thinking about healthy lifestyles at USF.

(Italics indicate me, the interviewer, and regular font indicates interviewee)

Narrative from a Student Living on Campus:

So what do you think about the food here on campus?    

       

Hah. Yuck. I really hate eating on campus and I try not to eat in the dining hall whenever possible.  It’s super gross most of the time and when they do serve any real food it’s gone so fast I can never get any.

So what do you eat?

I eat Moe’s a lot, haha.  I had never had it before I started going here but now I eat it like every day.

Wow, that’s a lot.

Yeah, but now I’m almost out of dining dollars so I guess I will have to start eating at Fresh Foods more.  Haha, it’s weird to me that they call it that.  I swear they take the leftovers from the other dining halls and try to make it into food.

So the other dining halls are better?

Yeah they are mostly better.  Champion’s sometimes has good stuff and I can usually get something I like at JP, but it’s such a far walk… of course the dining hall where most kids living on campus eat is the grossest.

Do you think you eat healthy?

Heck no! It’s not that I don’t like healthy foods, everything on campus just sucks.  I’m lucky that my older sister and her boyfriend live nearby because they will pick me up and make me a healthy dinner every once in a while.  I feel bad for kids who don’t have that.

Would you say that USF makes it easy or difficult to stay healthy while living on campus?

I mean, they have the gym and stuff and there are fliers in my hallways about getting enough sleep and not doing drugs and eating healthy and whatever, but the food is kind of a pathetic attempt.

So you think they should change something about the food? Do you think it’s a budget issue?

Yes, please feed me real food! It would be kind of messed up for it to be a budget issue.

Why do you say that?

Uh, because I pay a ridiculous amount of money to eat here! It’s over 1,500 dollars for the cheapest meal plan when you live on campus.  Like, how freakin’ hard would it be to make some decent food for that kind of money?  Most of what they serve is pizza or pasta or something that was frozen and I know that stuff is cheap.  Why not invest some of the other hundreds of dollars that I pay to but some better vegetables and chicken breast, and maybe hire someone to not completely overcook and destroy the somewhat decent food they do have.  

Anything else you’d like to suggest for USF to help keep students healthy?

Mm, I don’t know. Mostly just food.  But I guess it would maybe be good if the RA’s or something planned more physical activities or like group trips to the gym or something.  Maybe that’s just me.  I’m kind of shy so I don’t really want to join a sport or anything and I’ve never been to the gym so I guess I’m kind of scared to go. I guess that would more be something extra than like, necessary. You know?

Yes, thank you.

Survey

Here is a survey I created to send to students on campus to get a general idea about what students think it means to be healthy and how the university helps to keep students healthy:

1. Sex:
     - Male
     -Female
     -Prefer not to Answer

2. Student type:
     -Domestic
     -International
     -Other/ Not a student

3. What does it mean to be healthy, to you?

4. Would you consider yourself a healthy person?

5. What do you do to stay healthy on campus?

6. Do you think USF does a good job at providing healthy options to students and at promoting a healthy lifestyle?

7. Do you have any suggestions for what USF could do better to keep students healthy?

I plan to analyze the results of the survey to get an overall, general idea of what students think about health at USF and how these ideas may differ based on sex and/or cultural background.