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Greenville Business Magazine

USC Upstate Researchers Partner with LiveWell Greenville

Nov 29, 2017 08:50AM ● By Emily Stevenson
The STUDIO – the University of South Carolina Upstate’s student-run graphic-design agency – is working on a display comprising of photographs that portray healthy lifestyle choices, from diet to exercise. The images are the result of work done in association with LiveWell Greenville by a trio of researchers from the University of South Carolina Upstate. The content in the display, “Photos that HEAL (Healthy Eating and Active Living),” is a photographic representation of the results of research conducted by Dr. Lynette Gibson, a nursing professor and director of research in nursing; Dr. Toshua Kennedy, an assistant professor in the Mary Black School of Nursing; and research assistant Tatiana Green ’17, a nursing graduate.

The trio worked with four churches in the Greenville area that are participating in the LiveWell Greenville project. Their goal was to have participants create a photographic record of healthy lifestyle choices. Ten female members from the four churches participated and brought their resulting photographs to a focus group.

The research project began in December 2016 and ran through February 2017.

“We wanted the participants to have the opportunity to let their photographs speak for them,” Kennedy explained. “We gave them assignments each time we met, and that first assignment was to take photographs that represented healthy eating to them. The next assignment was to take photographs of what represented active living to them.”

At the conclusion of the research, the trio used the photographs and discussions to identify common themes.

“The three of us looked at the themes and drew out a diagram and shared it with the women,” Gibson said. “We thought the main theme was ‘practical living,’ and they agreed.”

That meant a lifestyle that was not only healthy, but accessible.

“When they talked, they talked about not having to do a lot of cooking. They wanted food to be readily available; for it to look pretty. They didn’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen,” Gibson said. “For active living, they wanted the gym or wherever they did their activities to be close by, convenient and [include] easy exercises that were also beneficial and fun.”

Students are currently working to construct the final display, which will feature about two dozen photos mounted on banners. In addition, students at the STUDIO also created a logo for the project that will be included in the display, Gibson said.