title: Comparing stage of change and behavioral intention to understand fruit intake.
abstract: We explored if the pre-action Transtheoretical stages of change are indeed discrete stages for fruit intakes. In a longitudinal design, a cohort of 735 adults completed electronic questionnaires assessing fruit intake, stages of change and intention to increase fruit intake at baseline and 35 and 67 days follow-up. A dichotomization of a continuous intention measure ('pseudostages') was compared with precontemplation and contemplation stages. The results showed (i) that pseudostages and stages of change were strongly associated; (ii) that for most respondents, stability and transitions in stages of change resembled transitions in pseudostage, while test-retest reliabilities for both measures were similar and (iii) that pseudostages and the continuous intention measure were stronger predictors of fruit intake than stage of change. We conclude that pre-action stages of change for fruit are not different from a mere categorization of a continuous intention measure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. emely.de.vet@falw.vu.nl
authors.forename: Emely
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: de Vet
authors.forename: Jascha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de Nooijer
authors.forename: Nanne K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: de Vries
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brug
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological