Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Re: U of Texas researcher needs help!

I received the following email message from Chelsea McPeek, a research assistant for Dr. Eun-Ok Im who is at University of Texas at Austin's School of Nursing. Since I am in the academic business, I thought I would help out a fellow colleague by posting this request for research subjects--specifically Ms. McPeek and Dr. Im are looking for women of all ethnicities between the ages of 40-60 for the following research:
"The purpose of this study is to explore attitudes of midlife women from four ethnic groups [Hispanic, Non-Hispanic (N-H) White, N-H African Americans, and N-H Asians] toward physical activity while considering the relationships between their attitudes and their actual participation in physical activity within the ethnic-specific contexts of their daily lives. Data will be gathered via Internet survey and ethnic- specific online forums to allow for a national sample."

[Aside: They omit American Indian/Native American women, and I'm not sure how they will categorize mixed-race women, but I think that's a great question to ask/bring up with Ms. McPeek and Dr. Im]

If you have questions about their study, their contact information and website addresses is listed below:

=====================================

My name is Chelsea McPeek and I am a Research Assistant for Dr. Eun-Ok Im at the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing.

Dr. Im is conducting an Internet study on the physical activity attitudes among diverse groups of middle-aged women (40-60 Y/O). Your blog aims at a variety of populations (Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, African American), so we believe that the women who read Mixed Race America might be interested in participating in our study. The more women that we can recruit to participate will make our data more complete. Each diverse category of women’s opinions and experiences are very imperative and cannot be neglected, because ethnic populations are expanding quickly in the United States. We will use the data from our study to identify cultural trends in attitudes towards physical activity. This information will help us improve communication between health care providers and minority midlife women.

If you feel that the women who read your blog would be interested in participating, could you please help us announce this study by posting the following link (http://mapa.nur.utexas.edu/MAPA/) on your blog, announcing the study through a newsletter, or forwarding to your readers through an email list?

We would really appreciate it if you posted this announcement on your website. If an announcement fee is required, please provide us with the necessary information.

In this study, each participant will be reimbursed with a gift certificate of 10 dollars per Internet survey.

The survey will begin by asking participants a series of eligibility questions. If the study has filled our sampling quota for an ethnic category, the participant will receive a message that states so. Below is some background information and the study announcement.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about our study. Thank you for your time!

Sincerely,

e-MAPA Research Team
Chelsea McPeek, Research Assistant
School of Nursing, University of Texas at Austin
1700 Red River, Austin, TX 78701
E-mail: cgmcpeek@mail.utexas.edu


Background Information

eMAPA is a NIH/NINR funded study (1R01NR010568-01) entitled "Ethnic Specific Midlife Women's Attitudes Toward Physical Activity".

The changing racial and ethnic makeup of the U.S. will require health professionals to practice with cultural competence in areas such as promotion of physical activity, where cultural beliefs may mediate health promotion behaviors. Although the benefits of physical activity are now widely accepted, midlife women, especially ethnic minority women, have low participation rates in physical activity, and prevalence rates of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and hypertension, and all-cause mortality among ethnic minority women (that can be effectively reduced by increasing physical activity) have been reported to be much higher than those of White midlife women. A plausible reason for the low participation rate is that the women's ethnic-specific attitudes toward physical activity have rarely been incorporated into relevant interventions.

The purpose of this study is to explore attitudes of midlife women from four ethnic groups [Hispanic, Non-Hispanic (N-H) White, N-H African Americans, and N-H Asians] toward physical activity while considering the relationships between their attitudes and their actual participation in physical activity within the ethnic-specific contexts of their daily lives. Data will be gathered via Internet survey and ethnic- specific online forums to allow for a national sample.



Study Announcement

Eun-Ok Im, PhD, MPH, RN, CNS, FAAN, School of Nursing, The University of
Texas at Austin and her colleagues are conducting a study to explore ethnic
differences in midlife women's attitudes toward physical activity.

You are eligible to participate in this study if you are a midlife woman
aged 40 to 60 years old who does not have any mobility problems; who can read and write English; who is online; and whose self-reported ethnic identity
is Hispanic, non-Hispanic (N-H) White, N-H African American, or N-H Asian.

Data will be collected through an Internet survey among 500 midlife women
in the U.S. starting Feb. 1, 2008 and ending May 21, 2011.

Your involvement will consist of about 30 minutes to complete the Internet survey questionnaire. You will be reimbursed with a 10 dollar gift certificate for filling out the Internet survey.

For more information and to begin the survey, please visit our project
website (http://mapa.nur.utexas.edu/MAPA/) and/or contact us.

Contact Information:

Chelsea McPeek, Research Assistant
School of Nursing, University of Texas at Austin
1700 Red River, Austin, TX 78701
E-mail: cgmcpeek@mail.utexas.edu


Eun-Ok Im, PhD, MPH, RN, CNS, FAAN, Professor
School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Austin
1700 Red River, Austin, TX, 78701
Phone: (512) 475-6352
E-mail: eim@mail.utexas.edu
Project Website: http://mapa.nur.utexas.edu/MAPA/

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