Optimising nutrition interventions for young people: the On-It study

Abstract

Improving young people's diets can significantly impact their overall health and benefit their future health and the health of their offspring. To achieve these positive changes, interventions must be designed to meet the specific needs of young people and consider the key factors that influence their food choices. This thesis aims to enhance nutrition interventions by examining potential strategies for promoting behaviour change.
An exploratory sequential mixed methods design was applied. A total of 23 young people participated in the qualitative component, corresponding to 23 individual interviews and 7 group interviews. The qualitative interviews were conducted to understand young people's perceptions of determinants of food choices and interactions between them. A systematic review explored the efficacy of Self-Determination Theory-based interventions to promote behaviour change in young people. In the quantitative component, 100 young people took part in an experimental study exploring the impact of a valued-framed message on motivation to make healthier food choices.
Qualitative findings suggested that young people are aware of the complexity of the food choice process, identifying key determinants with different levels of relevance. These determinants reflected young people's need for autonomy and being able to make decisions about their food, their need for relatedness by accommodating their food choices to their peers in the social context, and their need for competence. A systematic review looking at interventions based on Self-Determination Theory showed some evidence supporting changes in dietary behaviour and /or motivation for change when interventions used techniques related to the constructs of the theory. The findings of the systematic review showed that the techniques used in these interventions mapped into techniques to promote autonomy and competence. Based on the qualitative study and the systematic review findings, an experimental study tested whether a value-framed message could increase motivation to change food choices in young people.
The findings from this thesis provide evidence that young people's food choices are guided by complex interactions between determinants of food choices that ultimately can be categorised under those that meet their need to be autonomous, their need for competence and their need for relatedness. While the findings did not provide evidence that a value-framed message increased motivation for behaviour change, previous research suggests that future research targeting motivation for healthier choices in young people needs to address young people's values and meet their needs.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Sara Daniela Correia Simao: orcid.org/0000-0002-7441-1350

ORCID for Mary Barker: orcid.org/0000-0003-2976-0217

ORCID for Ben Ainsworth: orcid.org/0000-0002-5098-1092

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