Social support and readiness to make dietary changes

Area of Science:

• Nutrition behavior change
• Health promotion interventions
• Social and behavioral sciences

Background:

• Social support is a key factor in health behavior change.
• The Transtheoretical Stage of Change Model (TTM) is widely used to understand readiness for behavior change.
• Worksite interventions can be effective in promoting healthy eating habits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between reported social support and readiness to increase fruit and vegetable consumption.
• To assess the influence of household and coworker support on dietary change readiness.
• To inform the design of effective worksite nutrition education interventions.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional baseline data from a worksite intervention study.
• Assessed social support (household and coworker) and readiness to change fruit and vegetable intake.
• Used multivariate analyses to examine associations.

Main Results:

• Coworker support was significantly associated with being in the preparation stage versus precontemplation/contemplation.
• Household support was not significantly related to readiness to change in multivariate analyses.
• Reported higher household support among Hispanic and African American workers, men, nonsmokers, and those living with adults.

Conclusions:

• Coworker social support may play a crucial role in motivating individuals to prepare for increased fruit and vegetable consumption.
• Worksite nutrition interventions could be enhanced by incorporating strategies to build social support among participants.
• Future interventions should consider tailoring social support components to diverse demographic groups.