Goal-setting and volitional behavioural change: Results from a school meals intervention with vitamin-A biofortified sweetpotato in Nigeria

C.J Lagerkvist,J.J Okello,S Adekambi,N Kwikiriza,P.E Abidin,E.E Carey

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2018.06.038

Abstract

Malnutrition, particularly vitamin A deficiency, is a major public health problem in many developing countries. This study investigated whether priming or self-generation of goals, or whether attention to instrumental or experiential goals together with use of a reminder condition or not, promotes dietary behaviour intentions and change. A set of 556 randomly selected children aged 7–12 in Osun state, Nigeria, participated in an four-week intervention and field experiment in which a meal based on orange-fleshed sweetpotato, rich in pro-vitamin A, was introduced on five occasions as a complement to the existing school meal. Baseline intentions, anticipated feelings and repeated measures of post-consumption and experience were assessed. The analyses included a generalised linear mixed model for consumption and a linear mixed model for feelings and experience. The results confirmed that attention to instrumental goals undermines goal pursuit, while a focus on experiential goals increases the persistence of pursuit. Priming of experiential goals should be recommended, especially because this approach evokes positive feelings after eating. There was no evidence of an effect from repeated pairing of goals with the school meal, but use of planning by stating intentions increased the amount eaten. These results have implications for how school meals programmes should be designed to better align personal motivation with behavioural change in relation to dietary health.

Highlights

Malnutrition is a major global challenge, in developing countries
We extended the approach taken by Fishbach and Choi (2012) and investigated the behavioural outcome differences between priming and self-generated instrumental and experiential goals
Drawing on previous work on how thinking about goals undermines goal pursuit, this longitudinal study investigated whether specific goal setting promoted dietary behaviour change in relation to vitamin A deficiency among elementary schoolchildren in Nigeria

Summary

Introduction

Malnutrition is a major global challenge, in developing countries. Recent efforts to fight malnutrition have targeted micronutrient deficiency, including vitamin A, zinc and iron. Besides being identified as a health problem, malnutrition has adverse effects on children's cognitive abilities, leading to poor school attendance and impairment of individual development (Olusanya, 2010). There has been an increasing quest for theory-based nutrition and health education programmes that target behavioural changes, because such interventions are more effective than those lacking a theoretical base (Glanz & Bishop, 2010). School meals programmes that involve alteration of choice architecture to promote, or nudge, healthier eating habits have been shown to increase overall consumption of healthier foods (Da Costa, Møller, Bom Frøst, & Olsen, 2017). Programmes developed to increase children's knowledge and self-efficacy in relation to healthy nutritional practices have been shown to result in increased consumption of fruit and vegetables (Tuuri et al, 2009)

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