Motivating Me: Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies-A Dyad Model for Behavior Change

Abstract

Objective: Assess child physical measurements, child/ parent motivation to change behavior, and nutrition counselor's support of autonomy in making choices. Study Design, Setting, Participants, and Intervention: A clinical intervention informed by Self Determination Theory (SDT) conducted at primary care clinics for overweight/obese children and their parents. Autonomy, competence, and relatedness are the theoretical constructs. The intervention included six-biweekly, hour-long individual sessions over a 12-week period for dyads (n1⁄432). The nutrition counselor (researcher) telephoned dyads on non-session weeks to provide encouragement and problem-solving assistance. Parents participated in three, 90-minute group sessions. Outcome, Measures and Analysis: Anthropometrics were evaluated preand post-test. Survey assessments included Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire for motivation; Perceived Competence Questionnaire for competence; and Basic Need Satisfaction in Relationships for automony, competence, and relatedness. Score ranges for all instruments were 71⁄4very true to 11⁄4not at all true (parent); 51⁄4very true to 11⁄4not at all true (child). Nutrition counselor's support of autonomy was assessed using the Health Care Climate Questionnaire (51⁄4very true to 11⁄4not at all true). General descriptive statistics were run for the pilot and inferential statistics will be included for intervention outcomes using SPSS. Results: Based on the pilot, children (n1⁄43; mean age1⁄410) were at the 97th percentile for BMI. For the child changes from pre to post were for autonomous motivation 4.00 0.66 to 4.27 0.69, for controlled motivation 3.33 1.09 to 2.55 1.98, and for perceived competence 4.25 0.90 to 4.91 0.14. Adult changes were similar. Dyads responded ‘‘very true’’ that autonomy was supported. Intervention is in progress. Conclusions and Implications: Testing motivation, competence and autonomy contribute to understanding behavior change. Nutrition counselors may be interested in SDT training. Funding: Maine Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station and Faculty Research Funds Award