Casting health messages in terms of responsibility for dietary change: increasing fruit and vegetable consumption.
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.


METHODS
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.


METHODS
528 callers to a cancer information hotline who were not meeting the "5 A Day" dietary recommendation.


METHODS
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.


METHODS
Fruit and vegetable intake 1 and 4 months post baseline.


METHODS
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
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.
Williams-Piehota
Pamela
P
Health, Emotion, and Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
Cox
Ashley
A
Silvera
Stephanie Navarro
SN
Mowad
Linda
L
Garcia
Sharon
S
Katulak
Nicole
N
Salovey
Peter
P
D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005638:Fruit; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D052756:Nutritional Sciences / Q000193:education*; D014675:Vegetables