Participants liked the process used to form their implementation intention. All participants expressed that they enjoyed the conversation they
had with the principle investigator to form their implementation intention, and many felt that forming their plan was “easy”. Participants also stated that the time it took for the conversation to form the implementation intention was “good” and “fine”. No participants stated that they felt that the time spent forming their implementation intention was too long for them. What emerged as the part of the process that participants most appreciated was the “way the questions were asked”, specifically, the “guidance” and the ability to “brainstorm” with the researcher. For example: “It made me really think of what’s going to work, by talking with you…brainstorming well ‘how can this work for me?’ ‘What would be the best time?’” This comment also exemplifies how participants appreciated the way that the implementation intention was personalized to fit them as an
In terms of the intervention process, participants most often cited the “open-ended” nature of the discussion as being a very helpful to them while forming their plan. As one participant put it: “I think with your assistance, it was sort of self-guiding, you know? Kinda open ended, like ok…you know, ‘what do you think?’…you kind of gave me direction and just let me kinda choose my own path.”
Some participants pointed specifically to the fact that they had a “choice and a voice” when it came to formulating their plan, and felt comfortable talking about the plan with the interviewer because they felt that there was “no wrong answer”. As one participant stated: “To me it was like more playing a little
bit…like a puzzle more, and making that schedule on my time. And there was no time of being a wrong time.”
And another participant:
“It wasn’t like ‘I’d like you to do this’, or ‘you have to do this’. It was more like ‘try to do this’… in a way that’s gonna work for me, and that’s not…It wasn’t like a cookie-cutter plan, like ‘oh ok, well this is what works for everybody else’.
Setting the implementation intention was thought provoking and motivational. All participants stated that the process of forming their
implementation intention was thought provoking. A couple of participants stated that they felt the process of forming their plan with the researcher made them consider different ways to go about increasing their intake of fruit and vegetables. For two participants, the process prompted thoughts about different ways to
prepare vegetables. As one woman put it: “…like having to think about,
brainstorming about, what exactly [vegetable to eat], because I know that I could get bored if I had to eat the same thing over and over again.” For another, the process gave them an opportunity to really think about what they could do differently. As one participant said:
“I’ll eat in bed most of the time just because – and this is so
unhealthy, but – I have a huge TV in my bedroom…and it kinda got me out of bed, and eating healthy, and just, the whole thing, um, you know, helped me to do different things, like, I’m eating healthy now and it got me thinking about exercise and eating at the table, um, and not in my bed.”
Most participants expressed that the conversation with the interviewer to create their implementation intention was motivating. What was interesting was the variety of reasons why they felt the conversation motivated them. Two participants expressed that their motivation came from their perception that the researcher “cared” about them or their community. As one woman put it: “but if you have someone to just give you that little push, then you’ll see where you’re at and then you know that you can do better… Because someone cares.” A couple of other participants expressed that the motivation came from “not wanting to let [the researcher] down” or not wanting to “disappoint” the researcher.
Participants stated that the greatest challenge to forming their plan was that they had to think differently. Whether it was thinking differently about
would be best for them to incorporate the fruit or vegetable of their choice into their day, it was the process of thinking differently that participants most cited as the hardest part about creating their plan. As one subject put it: “Um, it kinda made me think a little bit differently as to my approach…how can I approach it best, and how would that fit into my lifestyle?’
Talking through the plan with another person and developing creative ways to incorporate fruit/vegetables was viewed as helping participants follow through on the implementation intention. When
participants were asked what they felt helped them to follow through on their plan to increase their intake of fruit and vegetables, all participants related the
importance of having someone with them to talk them through their plan. For one participant, it was: “…because it gave me time to really think about what’s going to work best for me.” Another participant described it as:
“It was like, to me I just felt like ‘boom…that’s it. I mean us just doing this together versus if I was to say ‘I’m gonna eat an apple’, ‘I’m gonna eat a orange’, ‘I’m gonna eat…’ us just saying, ‘well, how about around this time try a banana this day?’, or ‘try an apple that day’, or you know, specific times and things like that, kinda like.”
In both the interview as well as the open-ended questions on the follow-up survey, another factor which was repeatedly cited as being helpful to participants with regard to following through on their plan was participants developing
One participant stated that she had seen “a salad on TV that [had] cranberries and almonds and something else, like maybe some strawberries [on it]” and then said to her children: “we can try the fruit for that!”.
Finances and lack of support from their partner or children was viewed as hindering follow through on the implementation intention. When
participants were asked what they felt hindered their follow through on their plan to increase their fruit and/or vegetable intake, a couple of participants reported that “sticking to it”, in general, was the main challenge. From the interviews as well as the open-ended questions included on the follow-up survey, a number of specific reasons surfaced that are of interest. The issue most frequently cited as preventing plan follow through was finances. Most participants stated that
purchasing fruit and vegetables were cost prohibitive. Additionally, improved finances and/or decreased cost was cited most often by participants as factors which they felt would help them to increase their intake of fruit and vegetables beyond the implementation intention intervention. Overwhelmingly, participants stated that they would eat more fruit and vegetables if the cost of buying them was lower.
Some participants suggested such mechanisms as “subsidies” or “vouchers”, or some means by which the prices could be discounted.
Interestingly, none of the participants mentioned that they had difficulty locating produce when asked this question directly. Only one participant mentioned transportation in the interviews as a hurdle she had to overcome to purchase
fruits and vegetables, although this issue did come up as well in the open-ended follow-up survey questions.
The second most reported way participants mentioned to help them increase their fruit and vegetable intake was “support” in some form. For two participants, support would be in the form of a “buddy”; someone who the participant could be in frequent contact with who would provide support and encouragement. For another participant, support from her family was important when it came to eating fruit and vegetables: “…and yesterday, I said ‘let me try something different and see if it works’, so I bought cabbage. So I think if I had more people in the house that would eat cabbage it will help me more.”