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How do we know when we should tailor an intervention? Using the Reasoned Action Approach to compare adults to youth on their beliefs about eating fruits and vegetables
METHODS: Students (n=221) from three rural Indiana middle schools and adults (n=182) from four Indiana worksites were asked open-ended questions about one of three behaviors: eating dark green leafy vegetables (n=137); eating orange vegetables (n=126); or eating fruit (n=140). To elicit salient barriers, participants were asked “What makes it harder for you to eat…?” Content analysis identified categories (K=.877). Chi-square tests compared adults to youth on frequency of mentioning barriers.
RESULTS: Four of the top five barriers to eating fruit and vegetables differed significantly in salience by stage in life. The most frequently mentioned barrier for both adults (32%) and youth (29%) was availability. However, more adults than youth were concerned about time (30% vs. 13%, p<.001) and cost (25% vs. 3%, p<.001); but more youth than adults were concerned about liking (29% vs. 20%, p=.026) and about strategies to improve liking such as eating with other foods (17% vs. 6%, p=.001).
CONCLUSIONS: Availability was the most salient perceived barrier for both adults and youth. However a number of differences emerged suggesting that interventions may need to be tailored. Interventions for youth may need to address liking by introducing students to easy and fun ways of making fruits and vegetables tastier; whereas interventions for adults may need to address time and cost through environmental changes and building skills for preparation.
Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health educationSocial and behavioral sciences
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health
Learning Objectives:
Describe a theory-based qualitative method to identify how groups in the community perceive a behavior.
Describe an approach to determine when an intervention needs to be tailored differently by stage in life.
Keyword(s): Behavioral Research, Chronic Disease Prevention
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present this content because I am part of the research team that conducted this study and continue to analyze various components of the dataset. I have graduate degrees in Applied Human Nutrition and Applied Health Science (Health Promotion) and several years of experience in public health and nutrition, health education and health promotion. Currently, my PhD training is in theory-driven interventions targeting health behavior; inquiry methodology; and data analysis
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.