If you are a woman between age 40 to 60 years old, and care about women's health issues, please help Dr. Eun-Ok Im and her research team at University of Texas at Austin with their women health study by participating an online survey regarding women's health. 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).

Survey URL: http://mapa.nur.utexas.edu

More information about this survey:

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, middle-aged women, especially ethnic minority women, have low participation rates in physical activity. They also have prevalent rates of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and hypertension that are repeatedly higher than rates among middle-aged Caucasian women. All of these diseases cause mortality among ethnic minority women; such risks can be effectively minimized by increasing physical activity. A plausible reason for the low participation rate among these women in physical activity 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 national sampling.

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 middle-aged woman aged 40 to 60 years old who does not have any mobility problems, who can read and write in English, who has access to internet, 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 the Internet from Feb. 1, 2008 to May 31, 2011. Methods for the data collection include an Internet survey among 500 middle-aged women in the U.S. on the Internet and four ethnic-specific online forum discussions among about 30 middle-aged women per ethnic group recruited among the Internet survey participants.

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:

Hannah Lee
Research Assistant
School of Nursing, University of Texas at Austin
1700 Red River, Austin, TX 78701
E-mail: Hannah.lee@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
website: http://buda.nur.utexas.edu/EOIM/
E-mail: eim@mail.utexas.edu
Project Website: http://mapa.nur.utexas.edu