The impact of changing attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy on health-related intentions and behavior: A meta-analysis.

Abstract

(2016) The impact of changing attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy on health-related intentions and behavior: a meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 35 (11). pp. 1178-1188 This version is available from Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/58976/ This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies and may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the URL above for details on accessing the published version. Copyright and reuse:Sussex Research Online is a digital repository of the research output of the University.Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable, the material made available in SRO has been checked for eligibility before being made available.Copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. CHANGING HEALTH BEHAVIORS 1The Impact of Changing Attitudes, Norms, and Self-Efficacy on Health-Related Intentions and Behavior: A Meta-Analysis CHANGING HEALTH BEHAVIORS 2 AbstractObjective: Several health behavior theories converge on the hypothesis that attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy are important determinants of intentions and behavior. Yet inferences regarding the relation between these cognitions and intention or behavior rest largely on correlational data that preclude causal inferences. To determine whether changing attitudes, norms, or self-efficacy leads to changes in intentions and behavior, investigators need to randomly assign participants to a treatment that significantly increases the respective cognition relative to a control condition, and test for differences in subsequent intentions or behavior. The present review analyzed findings from 204 experimental tests that met these criteria. Methods: Studies were located using computerized searches and informal sources and meta-analyzed using STATA Version 11.Results: Experimentally induced changes in attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy all led to mediumsized changes in intention (d+ = .48, .49, and .51, respectively), and engendered small to medium-sized changes in behavior (attitudes-d+ = .38; norms-d+ = .36; self-efficacy-d+ = .47).These effect sizes generally were not qualified by the moderator variables examined (e.g., study quality, theoretical basis of the intervention, methodological characteristics, features of the targeted behavior), although effects were larger for interventions designed to increase (vs. decrease) behavioral performance. Conclusion: The present review lends novel, experimental support...

Indoor Tanning Dependence in Young Adult Women

“…Although interventions aimed at affecting perceived risks and benefits of health behaviors have promising effects generally (26, 63) and in some studies of indoor tanning (61, 64), our findings suggest this approach alone may be insufficient to promote behavior change among young adults endorsing indoor tanning dependence. A recent review proposes skills-based cognitive behavioral and motivational interventions that have shown promise for addressing other behavioral addictions could be adapted to address “excessive tanning” (65).…”

Developing a scale to assess health regulatory focus

“…Individuals differ in the extent to which they are driven by cultural norms (Alden et al, 2014), and so general regulatory focus – particularly prevention focus – may be more relevant among those more heavily persuaded by others. Future research should examine how other social norm-based interventions (Sheeran et al, 2016) or other health messages designed to have an affective impact (e.g., Ferrer et al, 2011, 2012; Walsh and Kiviniemi, 2014) fare when tailored with the RFQ versus the HRFS, and whether any impact differs by susceptibility to cultural norms.…”

Personal responsibility within health policy: unethical and ineffective

“…Second, behaviour change is not primarily motivated through fear and punishment. While debates over the particulars of how to motivate positive behaviour change still remain, there is widespread agreement that changing individual attitudes, building experiences of self-efficacy and altering societal norms all play an important role, while punishment is given little credit 53. It does seem hard to imagine that the distant threat of being denied care in the case that one might develop lung cancer will make a significant difference to an individual's current smoking habits.…”