The aim of our behaviour change project was to encourage students at the University of Warwick to drink more water. An infographic was produced detailing the benefits of drinking more water with advice on how much you should drink and student relevant benefits to drinking more water. At the bottom of the infographic students were asked to pledge to drink more water.These leaflets were handed out to students outside the library on the University of Warwick campus to more than 50 students. The researchers dispensed these leaflets during peak times (just before each hour when students were moving from lecture to lecture). When we approached the students we asked them a few questions about their water intake, and then asked them if they knew the benefits of drinking more water before providing them with the leaflet. Then participants were asked again to pledge to drink more water.
By using a combination of credible sources and just asking the researchers encouraged people to drink more water. Whilst we didn’t measure if water consumption increased, it would be possible to do so by asking students to fill out a water diary for a week and comparing this to baseline levels. Overall responses to the leaflet were very positive with a large amount of students that were approached agreeing to drink more water. Emma PhillipsVictoria Pattinson