title: Casting health messages in terms of responsibility for dietary change: increasing fruit and vegetable consumption.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Health, Emotion, and Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Williams-Piehota
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: Stephanie Navarro
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Silvera
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mowad
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Katulak
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salovey
mesh_terms: 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