A qualitative assessment of college students' perceptions of health behaviors

American Journal of Health Studies, Spring-Summer, 2003 by Raffy R. Luquis, Erica Garcia, Darlene Ashford

INSTRUMENT

Based on the literature review (Broadbear, O'Toole, and Angermeier-Howard, 2000; Davies et al., 2000; Emery, Ritter-Randolph, Strozier, and McDermott, 1993; Walden and Fennell, 1995) and findings of our previous survey (Luquis, 1998), the researcher developed thirteen focus group questions, with some of the questions having multiple parts, that assessed the three areas of interest. The three general areas included: a) perceptions and concerns of personal health, b) assumptions and beliefs concerning substance use, and c) beliefs and issues surrounding sexuality, pregnancy, and prevention of STDs (see Table 1). The principal author developed the questions according to the guidelines identified by Krueger and Casey (2000) (see Table 2). They specify that good questions are those that are conversational, easy to say with clear meaning, short and open-ended, one-dimensional, and use words commonly used by participants. In addition, they suggest that after a set of ideas for questions are generated, the researchers should examine, edit, and rephrase the questions so they will work in a focus group format. Moreover, the questions must follow a sequence to allow participants to "anchor their opinions and then build on those views" (Krueger & Casey, 2000, p.61). For example, questions should go from general to specific, from positive to negative, and from uncued to cued to prompt additional discussion. Finally, the researchers should request feedback from others before using the questions in a group. As part of this investigation, the principal author revised the questions based on comments from members of the University Wellness Advisory Committee. Members of this group included professionals from the fields of public health, health education, and social marketing. In addition, the graduate students involved in the research examined the questions and provided further comments to the principal investigator. Finally, the responses to the questions after the first focus group was conducted were examined, and some of the questions were revised as needed.

PROCEDURE

The principal investigator served as the moderator for all focus groups, while one of the graduate students served as the note-taker. Seven focus groups were conducted as part of this investigation. Each focus group was held in a conference room on campus. Each focus group was completed within one and one-half hours. The groups included a mix of male and female students, as well as students from different ethic/racial groups. In addition to taking "minutes" of focus group discussions, each session was audio taped (with participants' permission) to ensure a more reliable data gathering process.

The researchers transcribed the audiotapes, a common procedure used to analyze qualitative data (Krueger and Casey, 2000). These transcripts were compared with written notes to prevent misinterpretation of the data and to supplement the data collected on the audiotapes. Once the final transcripts were completed, the principal investigator and the two graduate assistants met to discuss how to identify themes and code the responses of each group. The authors, then, analyzed and compared the results of each focus group to describe commonalties and differences in the responses of each group. This process resulted in several themes that were then coded in specific categories. In addition, the researchers selected specific quotes from the data to show common themes throughout the focus groups. These direct quotes served to provide internal validity of the findings (Baumgartner & Strong, 1998).