Using Smartphone-Based Support Groups to Promote Healthy Eating in Daily Life: A Randomised Trial

Jennifer Inauen; Niall Bolger; Patrick E Shrout; Gertraud Stadler; Melanie Amrein; Pamela Rackow; Urte Scholz

doi:10.1111/aphw.12093

Using Smartphone-Based Support Groups to Promote Healthy Eating in Daily Life: A Randomised Trial

Jennifer Inauen, Niall Bolger, Patrick E Shrout, Gertraud Stadler, Melanie Amrein, Pamela Rackow, Urte Scholz

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

7 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although many people intend to eat healthily, they often fail to do so. We report the first randomised trial testing whether smartphone-based support groups can enhance healthy eating.

METHODS: Adults (N = 203) were randomised to the support or control condition (information), and to one of two eating goals (increasing fruit and vegetable/decreasing unhealthy snack consumption). After baseline, participants received information on their assigned eating goal, and completed a 13-day electronic diary. During Days 4-10, support participants were asked to support each other in achieving their eating goal in smartphone-based groups. The primary outcome was daily servings of fruit/vegetables or unhealthy snacks. Maintenance of intervention effects was assessed on Days 11-13, and at 1-month and 2-month follow-ups.

RESULTS: Support participants showed a gradual increase in healthy eating over time, and ate 1.4 fruits and vegetables more, 95% CI [0.3, 2.6], or 0.8 unhealthy snacks less, 95% CI [-1.4, -0.2] than controls on Day 10. Most effects were not maintained at follow-ups.

CONCLUSIONS: Smartphone-based groups can promote fruit and vegetable consumption and decrease unhealthy snack intake. This study extends previous findings of the benefits of support groups, and sheds light on the temporal dynamics of behavior change.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	303-323
Number of pages	21
Journal	Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being
Volume	9
Issue number	3
Early online date	25 Sept 2017
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12093
Publication status	Published - Nov 2017

Bibliographical note

The first author was supported by a fellowship of the Swiss National Science Foundation (Fellowship P2ZHP1_155103).

Keywords

eating behavior
fruits and vegetables
unhealthy snacks
social support groups
intensive longitudinal methods

Access to Document

10.1111/aphw.12093Licence: Unspecified

Accepted Manuscript
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Inauen, J., Bolger, N., Shrout, P. E., Stadler, G., Amrein, M., Rackow, P. and Scholz, U. (2017), Using Smartphone-Based Support Groups to Promote Healthy Eating in Daily Life: A Randomised Trial. Appl Psychol Health Well-Being, 9: 303–323., which has been published in final form at DOI: 10.1111/aphw.12093. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Accepted author manuscript, 2.77 MBLicence: Unspecified

Cite this

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title = "Using Smartphone-Based Support Groups to Promote Healthy Eating in Daily Life: A Randomised Trial",

abstract = "BACKGROUND: Although many people intend to eat healthily, they often fail to do so. We report the first randomised trial testing whether smartphone-based support groups can enhance healthy eating.METHODS: Adults (N = 203) were randomised to the support or control condition (information), and to one of two eating goals (increasing fruit and vegetable/decreasing unhealthy snack consumption). After baseline, participants received information on their assigned eating goal, and completed a 13-day electronic diary. During Days 4-10, support participants were asked to support each other in achieving their eating goal in smartphone-based groups. The primary outcome was daily servings of fruit/vegetables or unhealthy snacks. Maintenance of intervention effects was assessed on Days 11-13, and at 1-month and 2-month follow-ups.RESULTS: Support participants showed a gradual increase in healthy eating over time, and ate 1.4 fruits and vegetables more, 95% CI [0.3, 2.6], or 0.8 unhealthy snacks less, 95% CI [-1.4, -0.2] than controls on Day 10. Most effects were not maintained at follow-ups.CONCLUSIONS: Smartphone-based groups can promote fruit and vegetable consumption and decrease unhealthy snack intake. This study extends previous findings of the benefits of support groups, and sheds light on the temporal dynamics of behavior change.",

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author = "Jennifer Inauen and Niall Bolger and Shrout, {Patrick E} and Gertraud Stadler and Melanie Amrein and Pamela Rackow and Urte Scholz",

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AU - Stadler, Gertraud

AU - Amrein, Melanie

AU - Rackow, Pamela

AU - Scholz, Urte

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N2 - BACKGROUND: Although many people intend to eat healthily, they often fail to do so. We report the first randomised trial testing whether smartphone-based support groups can enhance healthy eating.METHODS: Adults (N = 203) were randomised to the support or control condition (information), and to one of two eating goals (increasing fruit and vegetable/decreasing unhealthy snack consumption). After baseline, participants received information on their assigned eating goal, and completed a 13-day electronic diary. During Days 4-10, support participants were asked to support each other in achieving their eating goal in smartphone-based groups. The primary outcome was daily servings of fruit/vegetables or unhealthy snacks. Maintenance of intervention effects was assessed on Days 11-13, and at 1-month and 2-month follow-ups.RESULTS: Support participants showed a gradual increase in healthy eating over time, and ate 1.4 fruits and vegetables more, 95% CI [0.3, 2.6], or 0.8 unhealthy snacks less, 95% CI [-1.4, -0.2] than controls on Day 10. Most effects were not maintained at follow-ups.CONCLUSIONS: Smartphone-based groups can promote fruit and vegetable consumption and decrease unhealthy snack intake. This study extends previous findings of the benefits of support groups, and sheds light on the temporal dynamics of behavior change.

AB - BACKGROUND: Although many people intend to eat healthily, they often fail to do so. We report the first randomised trial testing whether smartphone-based support groups can enhance healthy eating.METHODS: Adults (N = 203) were randomised to the support or control condition (information), and to one of two eating goals (increasing fruit and vegetable/decreasing unhealthy snack consumption). After baseline, participants received information on their assigned eating goal, and completed a 13-day electronic diary. During Days 4-10, support participants were asked to support each other in achieving their eating goal in smartphone-based groups. The primary outcome was daily servings of fruit/vegetables or unhealthy snacks. Maintenance of intervention effects was assessed on Days 11-13, and at 1-month and 2-month follow-ups.RESULTS: Support participants showed a gradual increase in healthy eating over time, and ate 1.4 fruits and vegetables more, 95% CI [0.3, 2.6], or 0.8 unhealthy snacks less, 95% CI [-1.4, -0.2] than controls on Day 10. Most effects were not maintained at follow-ups.CONCLUSIONS: Smartphone-based groups can promote fruit and vegetable consumption and decrease unhealthy snack intake. This study extends previous findings of the benefits of support groups, and sheds light on the temporal dynamics of behavior change.

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