A Goal Setting Intervention Positively Impacts Adolescents’ Dietary Behaviors and Physical Activity Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Abstract:The efficacy of a youth development intervention on improving eating and physical activity(PA) self-efficacy, goal attainment scaling, goal effort, and behaviors was examined in a repeated measures, quasi-experimental field trial. Ethnically diverse students (n=64) from a low-income middle school participated in the 10-session intervention driven by the Social Cognitive Theory with a Goal Setting Theory emphasis. Participants, 13-14 years old, made significant changes in dietary behaviors (P=0.03) and PA selfefficacy (P=0.02) after receiving the intervention. Self-efficacy did not mediate dietary behavior change but did mediate the small changes made in PA. Goal effort was not a mediator of behavior change. After the intervention, more participants rated themselves as making one lasting improvement in eating (P<0.001) and PA (P<0.05) choices and/or were planning on making more. This study adds to a small body of research with youth supporting use of goal setting interventions for diet and PA change in low-income communities.

Pilot Intervention Using Food Challenges and Video Technology for Promoting Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

“…The food challenges were coordinated with a guided goal setting technique (Table 2) that used behavioral strategies identified by Shilts and Townsend. 24 Guided goal setting, instead of self-set goals, was used as a pedagogical tool to support course learning outcomes and help students learn how to translate general goals into specific and measurable ones using specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) criteria. 32 Thus, each course topic/ unit and corresponding food challenge were coupled with 10−15 minor goals 23,24 from which students were required to independently select 2 to focus on that week, guided on how to rework them into the SMART format, and asked to apply at home.…”