Newswise — As a world-class triathlete and dedicated coach, Carly Priebe is passionate about how physical activity can make a difference in a person's life.
The University of Saskatchewan master's student has participated in three World Triathlon Championships including Vancouver, Hamburg, and Lausanne. Her best placing is seventh in the 20-24 year old age group at the Hamburg Triathlon World Championships.
Last summer, she traveled to Erdek, Turkey where she represented the U of S and Canada, as one of six Canadian university females on the team, at the World University Triathlon Championships.
"I love the sport of triathlon," she said. "I've also had a keen interest in healthy eating. I knew promoting these behaviors was something I wanted to do."
As the winner of a prestigious Vanier Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Priebe will get the chance to explore these twin passions in a new research project supervised by kinesiology professor Kevin Spink.
The project aims to determine what role social norms (i.e., what other people are doing) play in the decision to exercise or eat healthily. She says that when people are asked in research studies why they choose to be active and eat well, they tend to give personal reasons such as "I'm doing it for my health" or "I'm doing it to improve my appearance."
"There are many reasons people are active or eat healthily—including that others are doing these things," says Priebe.
She will examine whether individuals think social norms motivate their physical activity or eating behavior and then test whether social norms actually do affect their behavior. She hopes to determine the effect that the family, friends, and co-workers of her research subjects have on influencing these behaviors.
"It is my hope that my research will be able to impact the health and quality of life of Canadians by suggesting directions, such as social norm interventions, that future studies could use to increase physical activity and healthy eating," she said.
Part of the study involves social norm interventions—such as sending an email stating that "Three out of four of your co-workers take the stairs instead of the elevator" —to encourage activity.
"I am predicting that I will find that, although people don't see social norms as strong motivators of physical activity or healthy eating behavior, social norms will, in fact, be able to predict people's activity and eating patterns," she said.
She points out that less than half of Canadian adults are active enough to achieve health benefits and less than half of Canadians meet the recommendations of Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating.
She's keen to help people in Saskatoon stay active. She coaches for triathlons and speed swimming. She has also coached and volunteered at White Buffalo Youth Lodge.
"I think my biggest influences, as far as physical activity and healthy eating, were my parents," she said. "I guess you could say it was 'the norm' in my family to be active and eat healthy."
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