Interventions
Trials of behaviour change interventions
Self affirmation interventions
November 10, 2018
People can feel threatened when they read health risk information (e.g., feeling stupid because their lifestyle choices mean they are putting their health at risk).
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When people feel threatened they tend to react defensively to protect their positive sense of self (e.g., rejecting the health risk info).
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Self affirmation interventions (e.g., getting people to think about their strengths or values) get people to feel positive about themselves prior to reading health risk info so they are more likely to change their health behaviour.
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Self affirmation interventions can include questionnaires (e.g., answering questions about times you've been kind, indicating your character strengths), writing essays (e.g., about why a value is important to you and how you use it in everyday life) or making a list (e.g., listing character strengths).
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Self affirmation and health studies typically involve comparing an intervention group (who receives one of the above interventions and a health risk message) to a control group (who receive just the health risk message). The health behaviour in question (e.g., fruit and vegetable consumption) is measured before the intervention and at a follow up point after the intervention. In this way we can see changes in behaviour over time in both groups.
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These interventions work best for people who are at risk but might not be motivated to change.
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One good thing about self affirmation interventions is that they can be used with materials we already use to inform people about health risks. They are also cheap and easy to use.
Implementation intention interventions
November 10, 2018
People often have good intentions to change their health behaviours (e.g., they want to eat healthily, they want to do more exercise).
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However, this can be difficult. You can forget your good intention (e.g., automatically order a sandwich rather than a salad), or you can be tempted to ignore it (e.g., you really fancy chips rather than a jacket potato).
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These techniques involve making a simple plan so that when you are in a situation relevant to your plan you remember exactly what to do.
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