Know Your Numbers: Comparing Participants and Nonparticipants in a University Health Screening Program

Abstract

University faculty and staff members were offered the opportunity to participate in a worksite health screening program. Both the participants and the nonparticipants responded to a questionnaire concerning their dietary and health practices. Participants' values for total serum cholesterol, blood pressure, and percentage of body fat were measured. No significant differences between the two groups were observed for the parameters of self-reported total serum cholesterol or blood pressure, and the participants' self-reported and measured serum cholesterol values were not significantly different from those of the nonparticipants. However, the measured and self-reported percentages of body fat of participants were significantly different from reported percentages of body fat of those who did not participate. Further exploration of the motivation of participants in health screening programs is called for.

Key Words:

• blood pressure
• body fat
• body mass index
• cholesterol
• exercise
• health screening
• university
• worksite health promotion

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kathy A. Beerman

At the time this research was completed, both authors were with Washington State University in Pullman, where Kathy A. Beerman is with the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. Shirley J. Perryman is now a school health nutritionist with Wake County Human Services in Raleigh, North Carolina.