Educational Intervention Enhances Consumers' Readiness To Adopt Food Thermometer Use When Cooking Small Cuts of Meat: An Application of the Transtheoretical Model

Abstract

An intervention to promote use of food thermometers when cooking small cuts of meat was conducted using the Transtheoretical Model. Objectives were to (i) increase use of food thermometers by home food preparers, (ii) improve consumers' attitudes regarding use of a food thermometer, and (iii) examine relationships between stages of change and decisional balance, self-efficacy, and processes of change. A randomly selected group of residents of Washington and Idaho (n = 2,500) were invited to participate in the research; 295 persons completed all phases of the multistep intervention. Following the intervention program, there was a significant increase in food thermometer use when cooking small cuts of meat (P < 0.01); those persons classified in action and maintenance stages increased from 9 to 34%. Ownership of thermometers also significantly increased (P < 0.05). The three constructs related to the Transtheoretical Model that were used in the study (decisional balance, self-efficacy, and processes of change) were very useful for examining differences among people at different stages of change because the responses for each set of questions differed positively and significantly (P < 0.01) as stages of change classifications advanced from precontemplation (no interest in thermometer use) to action and maintenance (individuals who use food thermometers). Additional educational campaigns designed to increase use of food thermometers are needed. Because most consumers are currently in the precontemplation stage, food thermometer campaigns will be most effective when they are focused on raising awareness of the food safety risks and the benefits of using food thermometers when cooking small cuts of meat.

Consumer food safety education for the domestic environment: a systematic review

“…All the studies identified through electronic database searching were reported in published journal articles. Partial results from two studies (Takeuchi et al, 2005a;Takeuchi et al, 2005b) were also reported in a section of another somewhat larger paper examining food thermometer usage (McCurdy et al, 2006). For the purposes of this paper the studies were only discussed as a part of the original papers as they contained greater detail.…”

“…The Takeuchi studies (Takeuchi et al, 2005a;Takeuchi et al, 2005b) were the only studies that reported results in terms of Social Cognition Models. In both studies, results generally found that interventions were successful in moving some participants through to the next stages of the TTM (See Table 2 for full results).…”

“…Six studies considered self-reported behaviour change based on the intervention via pre/post intervention survey designs (Angell, 2008;Cody & Hogue, 2003;Dharod et al, 2004;Nies & Van Laanen, 1995;Takeuchi et al, 2005b;Unusan, 2007), one study looked at behavioural intention using a questionnaire design (Nauta et al, 2008) and one study examined behaviour via observation (Redmond & Griffith, 2006b). All studies found some significant evidence of a positive increase in food-safety behaviours post intervention.…”

“…Finally, both the Takeuchi studies (Takeuchi et al, 2005a;Takeuchi et al, 2005b) utilise the Transtheoretical Model of Behaviour change (TTM). These are the only studies which clearly include their Social Cognition Model in their intervention, their outcome measures and discussion.…”

“…As a consequence, food-safety objectives are now being set at the moment of consumption rather than at the moment of purchase (WHO/FAO, 2004) with consumers being heralded as the essential final link in the food chain to ensure safe food consumption and avoid food-borne disease (The Pennington Group, 1997, as cited in Redmond et al, 2004). This shift in focus has allowed researchers to comprehensively examine domestic food preparation practices using telephone surveys (Cody & Hogue, 2003;Redmond & Griffith, 2004a;Woodburn & Raab, 1997), postal surveys (Angell, 2008;Dharod et al, 2004;Redmond & Griffith, 2005a;Redmond & Griffith, 2005b;Redmond & Griffith, 2006a;Takeuchi et al, 2005a;Takeuchi et al, 2005b;Williamson et al, 1992), online surveys (Byrd-Bredbenner et al, 2007;Nauta et al, 2008;Unusan, 2007), home visits (Worsfold & Griffith, 1996), observations (Anderson et al, 2004;Clayton et al, 2003;Fischer, A. et al, 2007;Jay et al, 1999;Redmond & Griffith, 2006b;Redmond et al, 2004), laboratory simulations (Meredith et al, 2001) and reviews (Redmond & Griffith, 2003;Sattar et al, 1999;Wilcock et al, 2004).…”