Boosting Health: Using Personal and Social Determinants to Increase Adolescents’ Fruit and Vegetable Consumption
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2021-07-31
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en
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Poor nutrition during adolescence is an important public health issue in Germany. This behavioural change project aimed to increase German adolescents’ fruit and vegetable consumption through a boosting intervention designed to increase nutrition-related competencies. In the first study, a theoretical model including health beliefs, social support, descriptive norms and intention as predictors of fruit and vegetable consumption was tested. One-hundred-and-nine pupils were included in the final sample. The model was mostly confirmed and a revised version was used as the basis for the intervention. In the second study, an online-conference-based intervention incorporating educating elements about health beliefs and behavioural change techniques was used to boost adolescents’ nutrition-related competencies. Participants who used the provided intervention-techniques more frequently over two weeks were found to have a higher intention and actual fruit and vegetable intake compared to those who didn’t. However overall, participants in the intervention group (N = 25) did not show significantly increased fruit and vegetable consumption and intention after the intervention. Differences in comparison to the control group (N = 23) were also non-significant. While these findings do not yet translate into nutrition-related change, this project does provide concrete starting points to further investigate the merit of boosting interventions to encourage sufficient fruit and vegetable consumption among adolescents.
Key words: behaviour change, fruit and vegetables, health beliefs, social factors, boosting
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen