Some people have a habit of bringing books, magazines and other reading material into the bathroom.
But in first-year residence halls, there's no need for that.
Each month, a different colorful poster mysteriously appears on the back of the bathroom stall doors, fulfilling every first year's bathroom-reading needs.
The Stall Seat Journal, however, is a more serious endeavor than sheer bathroom entertainment.
Started in 2000 as a part of the Office of Health Promotion's social norms campaign, the project aims to encourage healthy behavior in a non-condescending way. The posters range from "108 Ways to Relieve Stress" to "Hoos Healthy?" and all are based on statistics gathered annually at the University.
Long before poster production begins, health promotions randomly selects approximately 5,000 undergraduates at the University to participate in a survey about their behaviors and attitudes. The health promotions office takes this process very seriously.
"We use the Dillman method, by which you survey students in a specific way," said Jennifer Bauerle, social norms marketing coordinator at the health promotions office. "It includes sending out a pre-letter with the survey -- in this case, we send out a two-dollar Jefferson bill as a token of appreciation. Then [the students] get a reminder postcard in the mail, and then they get an e-mail."
In addition to the surveys, health promotions conducts focus groups of six to eight students for some of the posters. Bauerle explained that the idea behind the focus groups is the opposite of the surveys. "There's a lot less breadth, but it's extremely in-depth," she said.
The feedback has been important.Bauerle cited one case in which a poster on relationships was modified to be different for male and female dorms because students called the original "too feminine."
"We receive feedback from RAs and from students and we take it in, and at the end of the year we talk to first years and ask them questions, so we can see how the year went," Bauerle said.
The main principle behind the Stall Seat Journal is that it is student-driven.
"We basically are holding a mirror up to the data, and telling the students, 'this is what you've told us,'" Bauerle said. "We're not wagging our finger at them, but by holding up this mirror, it kind of gives them a space to create their own behaviors."
Bauerle also emphasized that rather than a professional editor, second year College student Lauren Frick has been designing the Journal this year. Frick, who works as a graphic design intern at health promotions, participates in the decision-making as well.
"I'm more of the target audience, so I do have some say in what goes into" the journals, Frick said.
So has the Stall Seat Journal been effective in encouraging healthy behavior?
"The Stall Seat Journal is a quasi-experimental form, but it's not a randomized controlled study," Bauerle said. "So I can't say, social norms marketing is causing consequences to go down, but I can say, since we've been doing social norms marketing since 2000, we haven't had a lot of new programs but we have seen a decrease in negative consequences. So although we can't say it's causing the negative consequences to go down, we do see a relationship."
Frick, on the other hand, said, "I can't say that it works necessarily." But after a moment, she added, "I think it's a really healthy approach"
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