Privacy Statement
Thank you for your interest in Project WebHealth, a College Students Health Research Study - Behavior Change for Obesity
Prevention in Young Adults. The purpose of this 8-state research project is to evaluate the effectiveness of an online,
semi-interactive nutrition and fitness course that is aimed at improving dietary habits, physical fitness, and preventing weight
gain. With your involvement, you will represent the college student population and help us learn more about factors affecting
weight maintenance.
Can I participate?
You must
- be 18-24 years of age
- be a full-time student: freshman, sophomore or junior status
- have a body mass index > 18.5
- be free from life threatening illness or other conditions such as pregnancy or diet and/or activity-related medical restrictions that would prevent participation in an online nutrition and fitness program and/or prevent accurate physical measurements.
- have access to a computer
- be able to participate in an online study
- a current or former nutrition, exercise science and/or health promotion major
- enrolled in a nutrition course in Fall 2007
What will I be asked to do?
If you agree to participate, you will be asked to:
- provide your full name and email address for future communication between you and study personnel at your university
- complete an online survey
- affirm that you intend to select an appointment time to complete the other aspects of the study, described below. Details about this component will be discussed in person at the appointment and your written consent to continue will be obtained at that time.
If you choose to participate, you will be asked to do the following assessments 3 times. You must complete all of the August/September 2007 assessments to be enrolled in the study.
| Aug/Sept 2007 | Nov/Dec 2007 | Nov/Dec 2008 |
|
| Complete online survey | X | X | X |
| Have weight and height measured | X | X | X |
| Have waist circumference measured | X | X | X |
| Do a step test | X | X | X |
Online survey
The survey asks about fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, and also asks questions such as “Sometimes
things just taste so good that I keep on eating even when I am no longer hungry”. It takes about 25 minutes to
complete.
Physical Assessments: weight, height and waist
circumference
You will need to make an appointment for these. Assessments will be done in a private
room on campus and will take no more than 30 minutes. For these assessments, you will need to wear shorts and a t-shirt.
Waist circumference is done by putting a measuring tape around your waist, at the top of your hip bones. The tape will
need to be directly against your skin, not on top of a shirt. The tape will be snug, but will not compress your skin.
In order for these assessments to be accurate, you will need to avoid food, drink, caffeine, alcohol and tobacco for at least 4 hours before your appointment.
Step test
The step test is a simple way to estimate physical fitness. To do this, a person steps up and down on a wooden box that is
about as high as a tall bleacher step. The stepping goes on for 3 minutes to the beat of a metronome. You will have some
time to practice before you are timed. After the 3 minutes are over, a staff member will measure your pulse. The step
test occurs at the same appointment as weight/height/waist measurements.
In order for this assessment to be accurate, you need to avoid exercising the day of your appointment and the day before your appointment. Normal walking and activities are no problem, but you should avoid structured exercise or weight training for that period of time.
ONLINE NUTRITION AND FITNESS COURSE
You will receive an email with details of your study participation after completing the first set of physical assessments.
You may be asked to complete an online nutrition and fitness course. There are 10 modules (1 per week) designed to be
completed in about 15 minutes. The educational sessions are designed to address eating and physical activity concerns
of the individual. It is not a dieting program.
What do I get out of it?
You will receive $75.00 as money or as a gift card for completing all parts of the study according to the schedule below.
Incentives will be distributed at or within one month after each measurement time point shown above. Study findings will
be used to develop nutrition education materials for college students.
| First appointment for measurements (Aug/Sept 2007) |
$10 |
| Second appointment (Nov/Dec 2007) |
$25 |
| Third appointment (Nov/Dec 2008) |
$40 |
PLEASE NOTE: You are considered a participant in the study only after completing the first online survey (available today) AND the first set of assessments.
In addition to the above study assessments, you will be asked if you are willing to participate in an additional assessment that is specific to your state. The additional time will be between 5 and 20 minutes and details will be given at the time of your physical assessment. You do not have to complete these additional assessments to be a part of the Project WebHealth Study.
Risks
Except for your time and inconvenience, the risk to participate is minimal. Your physical measurements will be taken in
a private area to minimize any discomfort you may experience.
If you gain or lose weight which results in a
10% change in your body weight, you will be provided with information to contact University Health Services.
There is the risk to participants of an unintentional breach in confidentiality. This risk will be minimized by
restricting access to the data to investigators and website managers directly associated with the study, by removing
individual identifying information from the data once the data are collected, and by storing the data in secured
databases and locked cabinets.
Benefits
Completion of the online course is expected to provide benefits that include such things as learning to incorporate
healthful eating practices and physical activity. For the benefit of those who do not participate in the course, it will
be available in the semester following the completion of the 15-month period. It is hoped that the online course will
be incorporated into a for-credit course for national dissemination and made available to many other college students.
Voluntary
Your participation is voluntary. You may refuse to answer any questions that are part of the study. It is important for
you to know that one of the online questionnaires must be answered completely in order to receive personalized feedback
later in the study. This questionnaire will be clearly labeled.
You may decide not to participate or to discontinue participation at any time. If you leave the study for any reason,
you will only be compensated for completed physical assessments. You are encouraged to contact your campus administrator
should you decide not to continue your participation in this study.
Confidentiality
The website is password protected for both the subjects and researchers. All information that you provide, either online
or in person, will be kept confidential and your privacy will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by law. This
statement means that the information can be released to a third party if subpoenaed by a court order.
The online survey you fill out will be stored in a database on the secured server maintained by Rainstorm Consulting in
Orono, Maine. When data collection is complete, data will be removed from the server and transferred to disks and
maintained at both the University of Maine and the University of Rhode Island (coordinating centers for entire project).
Unidentifiable data will be shared with all researchers involved in the project. To secure data and maintain
confidentiality, an https encrypted website is being used for this study. Your confidentiality will be maintained to
the degree permitted by the technology used. Specifically, no guarantees can be made regarding the interception of data
sent via the Internet by any third parties.
When data are presented for scientific purposes, it will be reported in summary format, and no names will be used.
Questions
If you have any questions or concerns about what this study involves, please contact the researcher from your state
(listed below). If you have concerns regarding your rights as a research participant, please contact the human subjects
representative from your state (listed below). This study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of
all participating institutions. The IRB approval date for each institution is listed in the table below.
| State | Researcher/ |
Human Subjects Representative |
| Alabama IRB approved 8-7-07 |
Dr. Beatrice W. Phillips |
Stephen O. Sodeke, PhD |
| Maine IRB approved 8-9-07 |
Dr. Adrienne White aawhite@umenfa.maine.edu or Mia Courtemanche UMwebhealth@gmail.com |
Gayle Anderson |
Michigan |
Dr. Sharon Hoerr |
Peter Vasilenko, Ph.D, |
| New York IRB approved 7-25-07 |
Dr. Tanya Horacek |
Institutional Review Board Office of Research Integrity and Protections orip@syr.edu 116 Bowne Hall 315-443-3013 |
| Pennsylvania IRB# 21541 approved 7-25-07 |
Dr. Barbara Lohse lohseb@psu.edu or Mi-Young Do webhealth.psu@gmail.com |
Office for Research Protections ORProtections@psu.edu 814-865-1775 |
Rhode Island
|
Geoffrey Greene gwg@uri.edu or Sue Schembre sschembre@mail.uri.edu |
Office of the Vice Provost for
|
| South Dakota IRB approved 8-23-07 |
Dr. Kendra Kattelmann kendra.kattelmann@sdstate.edu or Minette Ridenour Minette.ridenour@sdstate.edu |
SDSU Research Compliance Coordinator sdsu.irb@sdstate.edu |
| Wisconsin IRB approved 8-17-07 |
Dr. Suzanne Shoff shoff@nutrisci.wisc.edu or Grace Wu webhealth@nutrisci.wisc.edu |
Education Research IRB edirb@education.wisc.edu 608-262-9710 |
Thank you for your time and interest in this study!
