TY - JOUR
T1 - Casting health messages in terms of responsibility for dietary change
T2 - Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption
AU - Williams-Piehota, Pamela
AU - Cox, Ashley
AU - Silvera, Stephanie Navarro
AU - Mowad, Linda
AU - Garcia, Sharon
AU - Katulak, Nicole
AU - Salovey, Peter
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - Objective: To compare the effectiveness of messages emphasizing the importance of either personal or social responsibility for dietary behavior change in increasing fruit and vegetable intake. Design/Setting: Randomly assigned individually or socially oriented messages were delivered at baseline, 1 week, and 2 and 3 months later. Telephone surveys were conducted at baseline and 1 and 4 months later. Participants: 528 callers to a cancer information hotline who were not meeting the "5 A Day" dietary recommendation. Interventions: A brief telephone-delivered message and 3 mailings of pamphlets and promotional items encouraging fruit and vegetable intake that emphasized either personal or social responsibility. Main Outcome Measures: Fruit and vegetable intake 1 and 4 months postbaseline. Analysis: Chi-square, t tests, and analyses of variance and covariance. Results: Both types of messages increased intake substantially (P = .01). To some extent, the social responsibility message continued to motivate increased intake over time compared with the personal responsibility message. Conclusions and Implications: These minimal interventions had a substantial impact on fruit and vegetable intake. Health messages might be more effective over the longer term if they are designed to emphasize the importance of social responsibility, although further study is needed to confirm the robustness of these findings.
AB - Objective: To compare the effectiveness of messages emphasizing the importance of either personal or social responsibility for dietary behavior change in increasing fruit and vegetable intake. Design/Setting: Randomly assigned individually or socially oriented messages were delivered at baseline, 1 week, and 2 and 3 months later. Telephone surveys were conducted at baseline and 1 and 4 months later. Participants: 528 callers to a cancer information hotline who were not meeting the "5 A Day" dietary recommendation. Interventions: A brief telephone-delivered message and 3 mailings of pamphlets and promotional items encouraging fruit and vegetable intake that emphasized either personal or social responsibility. Main Outcome Measures: Fruit and vegetable intake 1 and 4 months postbaseline. Analysis: Chi-square, t tests, and analyses of variance and covariance. Results: Both types of messages increased intake substantially (P = .01). To some extent, the social responsibility message continued to motivate increased intake over time compared with the personal responsibility message. Conclusions and Implications: These minimal interventions had a substantial impact on fruit and vegetable intake. Health messages might be more effective over the longer term if they are designed to emphasize the importance of social responsibility, although further study is needed to confirm the robustness of these findings.
KW - Food habits
KW - Fruit and vegetables
KW - Health behavior
KW - Responsibility
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=3042569097&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S1499-4046(06)60146-2
DO - 10.1016/S1499-4046(06)60146-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 15202986
AN - SCOPUS:3042569097
SN - 1499-4046
VL - 36
SP - 114
EP - 120
JO - Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
JF - Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
IS - 3
ER -