My name is Marisol Leos and I am a research assistant with Dr. Im and a student at the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Eun-Ok Im is conducting two Internet studies: one is on the physical activity attitudes among diverse ethnic groups of middle-aged women (40-60 Y/O) and the other is on menopausal symptom experience among diverse ethnic groups of middle-aged women (40-60 Y/O). These studies are not connected in any way and members can do one without doing the other. Because your website aims at women of different ethnicities, we believe that the Hispanic and African American women who are in your organization will benefit from participating in this study. We need many Hispanic and African American women’s participation for our data to be complete. Right now much of the information on menopausal symptom experience is based from studies done on only White women. Hispanic and African American women’s opinions and experiences are very imperative and cannot be neglected.
Here are the links: physical activity study (http://mapa.nur.utexas.edu) and menopausal symptom study (http://moms.nur.utexas.edu/MOMS/) on your website or announce the studies through your newsletter or forward to your members?
In each separate study, each participant will be reimbursed with a gift certificate of 10 dollars per Internet survey and an additional gift certificate of 50 dollars per online forum discussion (6 months).
The survey will begin by asking you a series of eligibility questions. If the study has filled our sampling quota for an individual with your characteristics you will receive a message that states so. Below is some background information and study announcement of each study.
Research Team
Marisol Leos, Research Assistant
School of Nursing, University of Texas at Austin 1700 Red River, Austin, TX 78701
E-mail: mari_l@sbcglobal.net
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
Study 1: 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.
Study 2: Eun-Ok Im, MPH, PhD, School of Nursing, University of Texas at Austin and her colleagues are conducting an Internet study on menopausal symptom experience among diverse ethnic groups of middle-aged women. In the study, Internet survey and online forums using a Web site (home-page) will be conducted to get information on women’s symptom experience during the menopausal transition.
You are eligible to participate in this study if you are a midlife women aged 40 to 60 years old who do not have any mobility problems; who can read and write English; who are online; and whose self-reported ethnic identity is Hispanic, non-Hispanic (N-H) White, N-H African American, or N-H Asian.
For the physical activity study: Data will be collected through the Internet from Feb. 1, 2008 to May 31, 2011. Methods for the data collection include an Internet survey among 500 midlife women in the U.S. on the Internet and four ethnic-specific online forum discussions among about 30 midlife women per ethnic group recruited among the Internet survey participants.
For the menopausal symptom experience study: Data will be collected from July 1, 2005 to August 31, 2008. Methods for the data collection include an Internet survey among 500 middle aged women in the U.S. on the Internet and online forum discussions among four ethnically different online forum groups (30 members per group at the beginning).
Your involvement will consist of the following: (a) about 30 minutes are usually needed to complete the Internet survey questionnaire; and (b) the online forums will be conducted for 6 months, should you agree to participate in the additional online forum discussion. Your participation is asynchronous (you can visit the online forum site and read and post messages at your convenience).
You will receive a gift certificate of 10 dollars for filling out the Internet survey, and an additional gift certificate of 50 dollars for participating in the additional online forum (only those who participate in the additional online forum for 6 months will be provided with this additional gift certificate). To get reimbursed for the online forums, you have to post at least one message per topic. For more information, please visit at our website (http://mapa.nur.utexas.edu) and/or contact us.
Contact Information:
Marisol Leos, Research Assistant
Undergraduate student
School of Nursing, University of Texas at Austin 1700 Red River, Austin, TX 78701
E-mail: mari_l@sbcglobal.net
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
website: http://buda.nur.utexas.edu/EOIM/
E-mail: eim@mail.utexas.edu
Project Website for physical activity study: http://mapa.nur.utexas.edu
Project Website for menopausal symptom study: http://moms.nur.utexas.edu/MOMS/
