A mixed-methods approach to understanding barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and exercise from five European countries: highlighting the roles of enjoyment, emotion and social engagement

Healthy adults are consistently falling below national and international recommendations for physical activity and dietary intake across Europe. This study took a co-creative approach with adult samples from five European countries to qualitatively and quantitatively establish motivators, barriers and sustaining factors for positive health behaviour change. Stage 1 delivered a newly-designed online programme, creating a community who identified challenges, motivators and solutions to sustaining positive healthy eating and physical activity behaviours. Stage 2 administered an online survey (developed from Stage 1 findings) to a larger sample to quantify the relative importance of these motivators and barriers. Results from both stages indicated enjoyment, positive emotions, and reward as key motivators for both behaviours across all five countries. Barriers included habit-breaking difficulties, temptation and negative affective states. Those with a high BMI placed more importance on social pressure than those with healthy BMI. Participants’ reports of motivators and barriers reflected relevant approaches from consumer science, behavioural economics, and psychology. Interventions supporting adults who are not chronically ill but would benefit from improved diet and/or physical activity should not focus exclusively on health as a motivating factor. Emphasis on enjoyable behaviours, social engagement and reward will likely improve engagement and sustained behaviour change

Image, imagerie mentale et effets de la communication persuasive : application a une oeuvre d'art incluse dans une annonce publicitaire

Available from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : DO 5885 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueSIGLEFRFranc

La publicite comparative et les administrateurs publicitaires quebecois : une etude des conditions optimales d'utilisation

SIGLEAvailable at INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : DO 1710 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

A mixed-methods approach to understanding barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and exercise from five European countries: Combining consumer science, behavioural economics, and psychology

Background: Healthy adults are consistently falling below national and international recommendations for physical activity and dietary intake across Europe. Interventions to address behaviour change in these fields typically target clinically at-risk individuals. To inform the development of interventions targeting healthy individuals, this study took a co-creative approach with samples of adults from five European countries to qualitatively and quantitively establish motivators, barriers and sustaining factors for positive physical activity and healthy eating behaviour change. Methods: Stage 1 involved a newly-designed online programme that was used to create an online community who identified challenges, motivators and solutions to sustaining positive health behaviours over two weeks. Stage 2 comprised an online survey, developed from the ideas produced in Stage 1, administered to a larger sample to quantify the relative importance of the motivators and barriers discussed. Results: Results from both stages indicated that enjoyment of health behaviours, positive emotions before and after activities, and installing rewards were key motivators for both behaviours across all five countries. Barriers included difficulties with habit-breaking, giving in to temptation and negative affective states. Participants reported that changes in physical activity and eating behaviour complemented one another. Those with a high BMI placed more importance on social motivators (e.g. social pressure) than those with healthy BMI. Participants’ reports of motivating factors and barriers often reflected relevant approaches from consumer science, behavioural economics, or psychology. Conclusions: Interventions to support adults who are not chronically ill but who would benefit from improved diet and/or increased physical activity should not focus exclusively on health as a motivating factor. Emphasis on enjoyable behaviours, social engagement and the role of reward will likely improve engagement and sustained behaviour change. Our data call for the integration of different fields in the behaviour change literature that would allow a stronger emphasis on motivational and emotional processes

Unveiling consumer preferences and intentions for co-created features of a combined diet and physical activity app: a cross-sectional study in four European countries

Background: Numerous mobile health apps are marketed globally with specific features including physical activity tracking, motivational feedback and recipe provision. It is important to understand which features individuals prefer and whether these preferences differ between consumer groups. Objectives: First, to identify consumers’ most preferred features and rewards for a mobile app targeting healthy eating and physical activity. Second, to reduce numerous individual mobile health app features to a smaller number of key categories as perceived by consumers. Third, to investigate the impact of differences in consumers’ BMI, and self-efficacy on intention to use and willingness to pay for such an app. Finally, to identify characteristics of different target groups of consumers and their responses towards app features via cluster analysis. Methods: 212 participants from France, Italy, the UK, and Germany were recruited online to answer questions about app features, motivation, self-efficacy, demographic, and geographic factors. It is important to note that our study includes an evenly distributed sample of people in the age ranges 23-50 (23 to 35 and 35 to 50). The app features in question had been generated from a fourteen-day co-creation session by a group of consumers from the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Results: ‘Home workout suggestions’, ‘exercise tips’ and ‘progress charts’ were the most preferred app features, while ‘gift vouchers’ and ‘shopping discounts’ were the most preferred rewards. ‘Connections with other communication apps’ was the least preferred feature and ‘charitable giving’ was the least preferred reward. Importantly, consumers’ positive attitude toward the ‘social support and connectedness and mindfulness’ app feature predicted willingness to pay for such an app (β= .229, p = .004). Differences in consumers’ health status, motivational factors, and basic demographics moderated these results and consumers’ intention to use and willingness to pay for such an app. Notably, younger and motivated consumers with more experience and knowledge about health apps indicated more positive attitudes and intention to use and willingness to pay for this type of app. Conclusions: The present study indicates that consumers tend to prefer app features which are activity-based and demonstrate progress. It also suggests a potential role for monetary reward to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours. Moreover, the results highlight the role of consumers’ health status, motivational factors, and SES in predicting app usage. These results provide up-to-date, practical, and pragmatic information for the future design and operation of mobile health apps

Commitment on the Internet : theoretical framework, methodological issues and research and research avenues

SIGLEAvailable from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : DO 8565 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc