Voices of experience: making students the experts

Area of Science:

• Health Promotion
• Educational Psychology
• Social Marketing

Background:

• First-year students face significant academic and personal challenges.
• Student focus groups identified key issues including academic performance, alcohol use, relationships, and body image.
• Effective coping strategies are crucial for student transition and success.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a poster campaign addressing common problems faced by first-year students.
• To promote behavioral change using principles of stages of change and social marketing.
• To provide accessible, evidence-based coping strategies for incoming students.

Main Methods:

• Focus groups with first-year students to identify problems and coping mechanisms.
• Development of a poster campaign based on focus group findings.
• Evaluation of campaign reach and impact on student behavior.

Main Results:

• 89% of first-year students reported reading the posters.
• 56% of students utilized at least one coping tip from the campaign.
• The campaign successfully reached a large proportion of the target audience.

Conclusions:

• Poster campaigns can be an effective tool for health promotion among first-year students.
• Social marketing and stages of change models provide a strong framework for behavioral interventions.
• Targeted interventions can positively influence student coping strategies and well-being.