Stigmatisering van werknemers met een psychische aandoening en hoe HR dit tegen kan gaan

Het verzuim en de instroom in de WIA als gevolg van een psychische aandoening zijn hoog. Dat komt niet alleen door de aandoening, maar ook doordat werknemers met een psychische aandoening daar vaak niet open over durven te zijn. Ze zijn bijvoorbeeld bang dat collega’s en leidinggevenden hen buitensluiten of dat ze hun baan verliezen, als bekend wordt wat er aan de hand is. Deze angst is terecht want er bestaan veel vooroordelen over werken met een psychische aandoening en er is sprake van stigmatisering. Het gevolg van niet-open erover zijn is echter dat de werkgever er ook geen rekening mee kan houden. Veel medewerkers met een psychische aandoening staan er daardoor alleen voor, lopen op hun tenen of gaan onderpresteren. Eventuele klachten worden daardoor erger. Werkgevers en HR-professionals kunnen daar wat aan doen. In dit artikel bespreken Aukje Smit, Dorien Verhoeven en Tinka van Vuuren de vooroordelen, de benodigde maatregelen en de strategieën om werkgevers (en dus ook HR-professionals) in beweging te krijgen aan de hand van een literatuuronderzoek naar stigmatisering van werkenden met een psychische aandoenin

Who diets? Most people and especially when they worry about food

Dieting is generally not effective in establishing weight loss and research has focused on documenting these negative consequences of dieting. Much less is known about why people diet. The present study employed a large and representative community sample to determine the demographic and psychological correlates of dieting and to examine the hypothesis that food concerns are associated with considering oneself a dieter. Participants from a community sample (n=1113) completed an internet survey on dieting (restraint scale of the DEBQ) and its demographic and psychological correlates, with a specific focus on food concerns. In addition, they completed a 7-day snack diary to determine their food intake. According to sex-specific norm scores, 63.2% of the men and 62.7% of the women qualified as a dieter, defined as having elevated scores on the DEBQ restraint scale. Women and older people more often reported to diet, as did people with higher weights. In line with our hypothesis, food concerns (weight concerns and concerns about the diet-health link) were most strongly associated with dieting. Considering oneself as a dieter was weakly related to actual snack consumption whereas food concerns were unrelated to the consumption of snacks. Considering oneself as a dieter in terms of endorsing items on a restraint scale is an expression of food concerns that is virtually unaccompanied by changes in food intake. These findings suggest a reinterpretation of the dieting concept in terms of a strategy for coping with food concerns which need consideration in future research. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

Breaking habits using implementation intentions

In this chapter we discuss how, and under which conditions, implementation intentions can be used to overcome unwanted habits, with a focus on unhealthy eating habits. We will highlight the mechanisms by which implementation intentions are (in)effective in changing habits generally, as well as decreasing unwanted habits specifically. We will demonstrate that implementation intentions can be helpful to change habits, but also that there are several boundary conditions to their effectiveness, especially when they are applied to complex habits in the real world. We attempt to provide some useful guidelines for formulating effective plans and we will discuss potential solutions to deal with the limitations when applying implementation intentions in practical contexts. We elaborate on the usefulness of combining the formation of implementation intentions with other strategies, for example aimed at fostering insights into the cues triggering the habitual behaviour and establishing strong cue-response links. In this way, we hope to provide the reader with crucial information to maximally benefit from implementation intentions to break unwanted habits

Investigating sex differences in psychological predictors of snack intake among a large representative sample

OBJECTIVE: It is often assumed that there are substantial sex differences in eating behaviour (e.g. women are more likely to be dieters or emotional eaters than men). The present study investigates this assumption in a large representative community sample while incorporating a comprehensive set of psychological eating-related variables. DESIGN: A community sample was employed to: (i) determine sex differences in (un)healthy snack consumption and psychological eating-related variables (e.g. emotional eating, intention to eat healthily); (ii) examine whether sex predicts energy intake from (un)healthy snacks over and above psychological variables; and (iii) investigate the relationship between psychological variables and snack intake for men and women separately. Snack consumption was assessed with a 7d snack diary; the psychological eating-related variables with questionnaires. SETTING: Participants were members of an Internet survey panel that is based on a true probability sample of households in the Netherlands. SUBJECTS: Men and women (n 1292; 45 % male), with a mean age of 51·23 (sd 16·78) years and a mean BMI of 25·62 (sd 4·75) kg/m2. RESULTS: Results revealed that women consumed more healthy and less unhealthy snacks than men and they scored higher than men on emotional and restrained eating. Women also more often reported appearance and health-related concerns about their eating behaviour, but men and women did not differ with regard to external eating or their intentions to eat more healthily. The relationships between psychological eating-related variables and snack intake were similar for men and women, indicating that snack intake is predicted by the same variables for men and women. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that some small sex differences in psychological eating-related variables exist, but based on the present data there is no need for interventions aimed at promoting healthy eating to target different predictors according to sex

Drivers and barriers of water intake in preschool children in a one-year longitudinal field study in Poland

Background Many children consume too little water and too many sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), with potential negative consequences for health. Sustainably increasing water intake is therefore relevant, however challenging. Objective Explore drivers of and barriers to water intake during a one-year field study aiming to increase plain water consumption using Installation Theory in Polish preschool children. Method Caregivers of children (3–6 yrs) completed questionnaires on the child's preference for water and SSBs, water drinking habit strength (Self-Report Habit Index, range 1 (low)-5 (high habit)), and barriers to drinking water, at baseline and after one year. Children were first allocated to one of three interventions: CONTROL: no intervention; INFO: online coaching sessions on water health benefits (3 weeks); INFO + W: similar coaching sessions and home water delivery (3 weeks). After 3 months, half of INFO and INFO + W subjects were exposed to an online discussion forum (3 weeks) (+ SOCIAL); the other half received no further intervention (-SOCIAL). Results 334 children (age: 4.4 ± 1.2 yrs; 50% female) completed the study. At baseline,72% attended kindergarten, among which 48% had access to water during the day. Drinking water during class was not allowed for 41%. The proportion of children who liked or loved water increased from 28% at baseline to 67% after one year. Conversely, that of children who liked or loved SSBs decreased from 58% at baseline to 45% after one year. The increase in preference for water was greater in groups who initially received INFO + W compared to CONTROL (p = 0.004). The mean drinking water habit score increased from 2.3 at baseline to 3.0 across all groups with a larger increase in INFO + W + SOCIAL (+ 28%) compared to CONTROL (+ 16%) (p = 0.001). At baseline, the strongest barriers to drinking water were (1) Drinking large amounts of other beverages (72%), (2) A preference for other beverages such as SSBs (71%), (3) Not being aware that they should drink more water (61%), and (4) Not being used to drinking water or water having no taste (both 55%).Most barriers strongly decreased over the course of the study with no specific effect of the interventions. Conclusion An intervention aiming to increase water in pre-school children was able to modulate the preference for water, habit to drink water, and barriers to drinking water in preschool children with unhealthy drinking habits. Providing information and facilitating access to water were the most important contributors to improving healthy hydration habits

Investigating sex differences in psychological predictors of snack intake among a large representative sample

OBJECTIVE: It is often assumed that there are substantial sex differences in eating behaviour (e.g. women are more likely to be dieters or emotional eaters than men). The present study investigates this assumption in a large representative community sample while incorporating a comprehensive set of psychological eating-related variables. DESIGN: A community sample was employed to: (i) determine sex differences in (un)healthy snack consumption and psychological eating-related variables (e.g. emotional eating, intention to eat healthily); (ii) examine whether sex predicts energy intake from (un)healthy snacks over and above psychological variables; and (iii) investigate the relationship between psychological variables and snack intake for men and women separately. Snack consumption was assessed with a 7d snack diary; the psychological eating-related variables with questionnaires. SETTING: Participants were members of an Internet survey panel that is based on a true probability sample of households in the Netherlands. SUBJECTS: Men and women (n 1292; 45 % male), with a mean age of 51·23 (sd 16·78) years and a mean BMI of 25·62 (sd 4·75) kg/m2. RESULTS: Results revealed that women consumed more healthy and less unhealthy snacks than men and they scored higher than men on emotional and restrained eating. Women also more often reported appearance and health-related concerns about their eating behaviour, but men and women did not differ with regard to external eating or their intentions to eat more healthily. The relationships between psychological eating-related variables and snack intake were similar for men and women, indicating that snack intake is predicted by the same variables for men and women. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that some small sex differences in psychological eating-related variables exist, but based on the present data there is no need for interventions aimed at promoting healthy eating to target different predictors according to sex

Investigating sex differences in psychological predictors of snack intake among a large representative sample

OBJECTIVE: It is often assumed that there are substantial sex differences in eating behaviour (e.g. women are more likely to be dieters or emotional eaters than men). The present study investigates this assumption in a large representative community sample while incorporating a comprehensive set of psychological eating-related variables. DESIGN: A community sample was employed to: (i) determine sex differences in (un)healthy snack consumption and psychological eating-related variables (e.g. emotional eating, intention to eat healthily); (ii) examine whether sex predicts energy intake from (un)healthy snacks over and above psychological variables; and (iii) investigate the relationship between psychological variables and snack intake for men and women separately. Snack consumption was assessed with a 7d snack diary; the psychological eating-related variables with questionnaires. SETTING: Participants were members of an Internet survey panel that is based on a true probability sample of households in the Netherlands. SUBJECTS: Men and women (n 1292; 45 % male), with a mean age of 51·23 (sd 16·78) years and a mean BMI of 25·62 (sd 4·75) kg/m2. RESULTS: Results revealed that women consumed more healthy and less unhealthy snacks than men and they scored higher than men on emotional and restrained eating. Women also more often reported appearance and health-related concerns about their eating behaviour, but men and women did not differ with regard to external eating or their intentions to eat more healthily. The relationships between psychological eating-related variables and snack intake were similar for men and women, indicating that snack intake is predicted by the same variables for men and women. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that some small sex differences in psychological eating-related variables exist, but based on the present data there is no need for interventions aimed at promoting healthy eating to target different predictors according to sex

Implementation intention and planning interventions in Health Psychology: Recommendations from the Synergy Expert Group for research and practice.

The current article details a position statement and recommendations for future research and practice on planning and implementation intentions in health contexts endorsed by the Synergy Expert Group. The group comprised world-leading researchers in health and social psychology and behavioural medicine who convened to discuss priority issues in planning interventions in health contexts and develop a set of recommendations for future research and practice. The expert group adopted a nominal groups approach and voting system to elicit and structure priority issues in planning interventions and implementation intentions research. Forty-two priority issues identified in initial discussions were further condensed to 18 key issues, including definitions of planning and implementation intentions and 17 priority research areas. Each issue was subjected to voting for consensus among group members and formed the basis of the position statement and recommendations. Specifically, the expert group endorsed statements and recommendations in the following areas: generic definition of planning and specific definition of implementation intentions, recommendations for better testing of mechanisms, guidance on testing the effects of moderators of planning interventions, recommendations on the social aspects of planning interventions, identification of the preconditions that moderate effectiveness of planning interventions and recommendations for research on how people use plans