Objective To evaluate if self-efficacy and financial incentives mediate the effect of health behavior on weight-loss in a group of overweight and obese nursing-home employees participating in a 16-week weight-loss intervention with 12 week follow-up. Methods 99 overweight/obese (BMI>25) employees from four nursing-homes participated, with a mean age of 46.98 years and BMI of 35.33. Nursing-homes were randomized to receiving an incentive-based intervention (n=51) and no incentive (n=48). Participants’ health behaviors and eating and exercise self-efficacy were assessed at week 1, 16, and 28 using a self-reported questionnaire. Mediation and moderated mediation analysis assessed relationships among these variables. Results Eating self-efficacy and Exercise self-efficacy were significant mediators between health behaviors and weight-loss (p<0.05). Incentives significantly moderated the effects of self-efficacy (p=0.00) on weight-loss. Conclusions Self-efficacy and financial incentives may affect weight-loss and play a role in weight-loss interventions.

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Objective Evidence supports the transdiagnostic importance of food cravings across the spectrum of disordered eating behaviors. The ambivalence model of craving (AMC), originally applied to substance use craving, highlights the need to consider not just the motivational state of “approach,” but also that of “avoidance.” The aims of this project were to (a) extend the existing literature by providing additional psychometric support for the food approach and avoidance questionnaire (FAAQ), (b) extend research supporting the validity of applying the AMC to disordered eating by incorporating a cue‐reactivity paradigm, and (c) examine the unique contributions of the FAAQ and in‐the‐moment cue‐elicited craving to the prediction of disordered eating. Method Participants (N = 223; 52.0% female, age M = 20.51 years) were recruited from a large southeastern university. Participants completed a food cue‐reactivity paradigm and measures of food craving and disordered eating in a lab setting. Results The factor structure and construct validity of the FAAQ was supported and both general states of food craving (i.e., FAAQ) and cue‐elicited food craving were incrementally associated with the spectrum of disordered eating behaviors. As anticipated, both FAAQ and in‐the‐moment cue‐elicited approach were primarily associated with overeating behaviors, whereas FAAQ and cue‐elicited avoidance were primarily associated with restrictive eating behaviors. Discussion Findings highlight the importance of including an avoidance dimension of food craving and have important implications for disordered eating prevention and intervention work.

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