Tailoring Messages to Individual Differences in Monitoring-Blunting Styles to Increase Fruit and Vegetable Intake

• Published in: Journal of nutrition education and behavior 2009-11, Vol.41 (6), p.398-405
• Main Authors: Williams-Piehota, Pamela, PhD, Latimer, Amy E., PhD, Katulak, Nicole A., BS, Cox, Ashley, MS, JD, Silvera, Stephanie A.N., PhD, Mowad, Linda, RN, Salovey, Peter, PhD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: behavior change; Cancer; communication (human); Coping; coping strategies; coping styles; diet counseling; diet therapy; Eating Habits; Female; Follow-Up Studies; food choices; food intake; Fruit; Fruits; fruits (food); Gastroenterology and Hepatology; Guidelines; Health Education; Health Education - methods; Health Promotion; human behavior; human nutrition; Humans; Individual Differences; Information Seeking; Internal Medicine; Intervention; lifestyle; Male; Middle Aged; monitor; Nutrition; Nutrition education; Nutrition Policy; nutritional adequacy; Nutritional Sciences - education; persuasive communication; psychosocial factors; Regression (Statistics); Surveys; tailoring; Vegetables
• ISSN: 1499-4046; 1878-2620; 1708-8259
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2008.06.006

Abstract Objective To examine whether messages matched to individuals' monitoring-blunting coping styles (MBCS) are more effective in increasing fruit and vegetable intake than mismatched messages. MBCS refers to the tendency to either attend to and amplify, or distract oneself from and minimize threatening information. Design/Setting Randomly assigned messages were tailored to resonate with either monitors or blunters and delivered at baseline, 1 week, 2 months, and 3 months later. Surveys were conducted at baseline and 2 and 4 months later. Participants 531 callers to a cancer information hotline who did not meet the 5 A Day guideline. Intervention A brief telephone-delivered message and 3 mailings of booklets and promotional items encouraging fruit and vegetable intake, tailored for either monitors or blunters. Main Outcome Measure Fruit and vegetable intake 2 and 4 months post-baseline. Analysis Hierarchical regression modeling. Results Messages matched to MBCS were more effective than mismatched messages, particularly for the monitor message, in increasing intake at 2 months but not at 4 months. Conclusions and Implications These minimal interventions influenced fruit and vegetable intake. MBCS may be a promising target for developing tailored messages aimed at increasing intake, although additional research is needed to verify the robustness of these findings.