Promoting Fruit and Vegetable Intake through Messages Tailored to Individual Differences in Regulatory Focus
- PDF / 171,647 Bytes
- 7 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 82 Downloads / 177 Views
RAPID COMMUNICATION
Promoting Fruit and Vegetable Intake through Messages Tailored to Individual Differences in Regulatory Focus Amy E. Latimer, Ph.D. & Pamela Williams-Piehota, Ph.D. & Nicole A. Katulak, B.S. & Ashley Cox, M.A. & Linda Mowad, R.N. & E. Tory Higgins, Ph.D. & Peter Salovey, Ph.D.
Published online: 1 August 2008 # The Society of Behavioral Medicine 2008
Abstract Background Researchers must identify strategies to optimize the persuasiveness of messages used in public education campaigns encouraging fruit and vegetable (FV) intake. Purpose This study examined whether tailoring messages to individuals’ regulatory focus (RF), the tendency to be motivated by promotion versus prevention goals, increased the persuasiveness of messages encouraging greater FV intake. Method Participants (n=518) completed an assessment of their RF and were randomly assigned to receive either A. E. Latimer : P. Williams-Piehota : N. A. Katulak : A. Cox : P. Salovey (*) Department of Psychology, Yale University, P.O. Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520-8205, USA e-mail: [email protected]
prevention- or promotion-oriented messages. Messages were mailed 1 week, 2 months, and 3 months after the baseline interview. Follow-up assessments were conducted 1 and 4 months after the baseline assessment. Results Regression analyses revealed that at Month 4, the messages were somewhat more efficacious when congruent with participants’ RF. Conclusion RF may be a promising target for developing tailored messages promoting increased FV intake, and particularly for encouraging individuals to meet FV guidelines. Keywords Psychological tailoring . Regulatory focus . Health communication . Persuasion . Cancer Information Service
Introduction A. E. Latimer (*) School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen’s University, 69 Union Street, Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6 e-mail: [email protected] P. Williams-Piehota RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194, USA L. Mowad National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service, Yale Cancer Center, 55 Church Street, Suite 400, New Haven, CT 06510-3014, USA E. T. Higgins Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
Several public education campaigns launched to increase fruit and vegetable (FV) intake have met with limited success (e.g., [1]). For example, despite the efforts of the 5 A Day for Better Health Program to encourage the consumption of at least five servings of FV per day, the majority of Americans fail to meet this recommendation [2]. The impact of large-scale education campaigns hinges on a number of factors including the persuasiveness of the message and the effectiveness of the message delivery process [3]. To maximize the success of future campaigns, researchers must isolate specific strategies for optimizing message impact and delivery. The current study examines the efficacy of tailoring messages to individual differences in information processing styles with the objective of developing an approach for enhancing messa
Data Loading...
