Research Problem
When I first decided that I wanted to be a biology major here at UCSB, I realized that I have a passion for helping people, care about the health of people, and have a passion for basically helping make better the medical and health world. In my own life my nutrition and well-being and also the well-being of everyone else is important to me and I try to apply it to my daily routine and attempt to instill good nutrition and well-being to everyone around me. The well-being of people includes emotional and spiritual wellness of people as well as fitness, and an overall healthy lifestyle. Nutrition does not only include food but also the wellness all around--mental, emotional, spiritual, etc. I feel that this part of our life is so important yet people bypass it and it has a bigger impact on our lives than people realize. This is where my question begins: what is the importance of nutrition for the university? I know that being well and having good health is important to every single human being on this planet but what does it mean for the university and its community of faculty and students.
Rationale
I feel like the principles and standards in my nutrition class are a crucial part to every single person’s life but it is often ignored or dismissed as unimportant. So, I think it would be interesting to really find out how nutrition plays a role for the students and their well-being, health, and success at our university. This could also play an important role in the future for our university if nutrition became a higher priority for the Isla Vista community and on-campus dining. The nutrition of the students at UCSB is something, I believe, that is related to their success here at the university and the well-being of the university as a whole. I could see how a healthier campus (physical, emotional, spiritual, etc.) could benefit us as a whole. Researching into the types of health issues that college students face on a day-to-day basis can be the start for improving those issues. The first step to changing is pin-pointing the problem.
Reseach Questions
What health issues do college students grapple with the most and what are their strategies for dealing with their health issues?
How would taking ESS 3 Nutrition for Health bring awareness to the nutrition/health issues of college students?
Methods
Observation and Personal Reflection
I plan to observe my nutrition class in its natural setting, step out of the setting, and observe as an outsider looking into the class in order to see how the students are relating to the lecture and to the teacher. Also, I will reflect upon my own experience being enrolled in the nutrition course, my experience with what the professor has brought up about healthy eating and being healthy in our own lifestyle, and her giving suggestions on how to make meals healthier even at our dining commons where our options are limited. I plan on reflecting on my own experience at the universit and what I have changed in my own life after being in ESS 3.
Interview
I want to interview the teaching assistant, Abbey Austin, for the ESS 3 Nutrition/Health course at UCSB in order to get more information about why she chose Nutrition as a discipline to study and how nutrition relates back to the students and university as a whole.
Document Analysis
My document analysis will include the coding and analysis of a scholarly journal, "Effect of Nutrition Intervention Using a General Nutrition Course for Promoting Fruit and Vegetable Consumption among College Students" by Eun-Jeong Ha and Natalie Caine-Bish.