Readiness for behavioral change and variation in food consumption among adolescents from a school-based community trial in Duque de Caxias, RJ

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the influence of the stage of readiness for changes in food consumption variation among adolescents participating in school-based community trial in Duque de Caxias (RJ), Brazil. Methods: It is a secondary analysis of a one-year randomized community trial to prevent excessive weight gain in students attending the 5th grade in 20 public schools in the municipality of Duque de Caxias. The activities conducted discouraged the consumption of sweetened beverages and cookies and encouraged the consumption of fruits and beans. A food frequency questionnaire was applied at the beginning and at the end of the study. The stages of readiness for behavioral change vary in a scale from (1) “I don’t think of changing diet” to (5) “I’m already changing my diet successfully”. For the longitudinal analyses, we used generalized linear mixed models. Results: There was a greater change in the consumption of fruit and soft drinks among participants in the intervention group who were in the action stage, compared to participants who did not think about changing their diet. Conclusion: The proposed strategy may be used to identify population groups with motivation for changes in dietary behavior.