Counseling Intervention Among Nontraditional College Students

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Results of a Nutrition and Physical Activity Peer Counseling Intervention among Nontraditional College Students
College settings are often an area of focus when conducting health behavior interventions due to the opportunities to reach large populations, employ multi-level strategies, and target adults that are transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. A large portion of research focuses on diet and physical activity interventions among young adults enrolled in college classes. There is, however, an opportunity to reach nontraditional students. Nontraditional students are often categorized as those who are older, enrolled at school part-time, working part or full-time, and/or having family responsibilities in addition to attending college. These students make up a large portion of the student community, and the population is growing every year. It is known that all students face academic and personal pressures, however, it is believed that nontraditional students likely have differing needs for health promotion due to the particular pressures and time demands they face (employment, having dependents, etc.). This study chose to focus on the nontraditional college group who may face health disparities that have not been researched in the past. This was a randomized trial to assess the feasibility of a nutrition and physical activity intervention that was delivered by trained student peer counselors to nontraditional undergraduate students via the telephone. Results found that the intervention approach was practical, which was evidenced by the numbers of completed counseling calls. Feedback from the intervention group did indicate that there was a need for calls to be more specific in nature regarding information, goals, and strategies as well as a need for counselors to sound more conversational rather than scripted. This trial has promise for being tested in the future with a larger sample of nontraditional college students.


Quintiliani, L.M., Whiteley, J.A. (2016). Results of a nutrition and physical activity       peer counseling intervention among nontraditional college students. Journal       of Cancer Education, 31(2), 366-374.

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