Health Promotion in Multiple Domains: Capitalizing on the Spillover Effect
Lifestyle behaviors, such as physical activity and food consumption choices, play a critical role in the development of chronic diseases and ultimately mortality. Optimally, multiple health-related behaviors are changed to reduce risk rather than targeting only one risk behavior. The purpose of the current research was to examine the potential utility of the spillover effect in the application of a multiple health behavior intervention. The online intervention developed in this study aimed primarily to foster self-regulation, bolstered by impulsivity control and self-efficacy, in one health-related behavior (i.e., physical activity) in order to potentially affect change in other health-related behaviors (e.g., fruit consumption). Through retrospective pre-post design and daily diary design, data was analyzed for differences in behavior change over thirty days between the spillover effect condition and the traditional intervention condition. Exploratory analyses indicated initial support for further application and testing of the spillover effect as a practical, less resource dense and potentially less overwhelming, alternative to traditional direct intervention on multiple health behaviors.
Behavior change, Exercise intervention, Fruit consumption, Multiple health behavior change, Spillover, Spillover effect, Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Health Psychology, Nutrition
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