Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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- All Subjects: adolescents
- Creators: Forzani, Erica
- Creators: Loebenberg, Abby
Description
It is well established that physical activity (PA) directly correlates with many health benefits, especially when active habits are formed during childhood and adolescence. PA practiced in adolescence has been seen to carry into adulthood, helping to combat a host of chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes. However, in recent years there has been a steady decline in PA among adolescents, followed by a resulting rise in sedentary behavior. Walking Intervention Through Texting for Adolescents, or WalkIT-A, was an 11.5-week intervention that built upon behavioral theory to provide an incentive-based, adaptive, physical activity intervention to inactive adolescents. The goal of this study was to investigate an intervention which combined walking with pointed behavior change strategies to incite a larger increase in PA. Using single-case, reversal (ABA) design, the study was aimed at shaping physical activity behavior in adolescents aged 12-17 through a mobile health intervention that paired adaptive goal setting with financial incentives to increase step count. The intervention was delivered using a semi-automated texting, mobile-Health (mHealth) platform, which incorporated FitBit tracking technology, adaptive goals, motivational messages, performance feedback, and points/incentives. It was hypothesized that during the adaptive intervention phase participants would increase both steps per day and active minutes compared to baseline values. Upon conclusion of the study, the three adolescent participants exhibited increased steps and active minutes during the intervention period compared to baseline and withdrawal phases. However, the specific trends identified suggest the need for future research to incorporate even stronger intervention components to overcome PA "drop-off" midway through the intervention, along with other external, environmental influencers. Despite this need, the use of adaptive goal setting combined with incentives can be an effective means to incite PA behavior change in adolescents.
ContributorsVan Bussum, Courtney Jessica (Author) / Adams, Marc (Thesis director) / Forzani, Erica (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Communicating with Confidence: Evaluating Sexual Education Exposure’s Effect on Sexual Communication
Description
This study examined associations between reports of receiving information on sexual education topics common to different sexual education curricula (e.g. abstinence only until marriage, comprehensive) and reported confidence in sexual communication of information and preferences, taking into account information received from school health classes, parents/guardians, online resources, and peers.
Data used from 293 participants aged 18-25 was used to perform descriptive analyses and linear regressions adjusted for significant covariates. Exposure to a comprehensive sexual education curriculum was found to be significantly positively associated with increased sexual communication confidence, while exposure to an abstinence only until marriage curriculum was not found to be a significant predictor. All resources were found to be positively associated with sexual communication confidence with the exception of health class, which was an insignificant predictor.
Comprehensive sexual education is an important factor in increasing young adults’ confidence in sexual communication of information and preferences. However, sexual education delivery in health classes in the United States is currently ineffective. A reevaluation of how sexual education should be delivered in the United States is needed.
Data used from 293 participants aged 18-25 was used to perform descriptive analyses and linear regressions adjusted for significant covariates. Exposure to a comprehensive sexual education curriculum was found to be significantly positively associated with increased sexual communication confidence, while exposure to an abstinence only until marriage curriculum was not found to be a significant predictor. All resources were found to be positively associated with sexual communication confidence with the exception of health class, which was an insignificant predictor.
Comprehensive sexual education is an important factor in increasing young adults’ confidence in sexual communication of information and preferences. However, sexual education delivery in health classes in the United States is currently ineffective. A reevaluation of how sexual education should be delivered in the United States is needed.
ContributorsDouglass, Kathryn (Author) / Pivovarova, Margarita (Thesis director) / Loebenberg, Abby (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12