Assessment of stage of change, decisional balance, self-efficacy, and use of processes of change of low-income parents for increasing servings of fruits and vegetables to preschool-aged children.

OBJECTIVE: Use the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (TTM) to determine the proportionate stage of change of low-income parents and primary caregivers (PPC) for increasing accessibility, measured as servings served, of fruits and vegetables (FV) to their preschool-aged children and evaluate response differences for theoretical constructs. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, quantitative survey design consisting of staging algorithm, construct scales, and food frequency questionnaire. SETTING: Rural and urban communities in a southwestern state of the United States. PARTICIPANTS: 238 low-income PPC enrolled in federal nutrition education programs were recruited from group nutrition education sessions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Stage of change using a staging algorithm, TTM constructs of processes of change, decisional balance, and self-efficacy measured by multiple-item scales using Likert response, and fruit and vegetable servings served using a food frequency questionnaire. ANALYSIS: Descriptive analysis, Pearson’s chi-square, analyses of variance with Tukey’s Honestly Significant Difference post hoc test, and principal component function analysis. RESULTS: Of the surveyed PPC, 43% were in precontemplation/contemplation stages, and 29% were in the preparation stage for increasing FV accessibility (measured by servings served) to their preschool-aged children. PPC in the action/maintenance stages evidenced greater use of behavioral processes and had higher self-efficacy scores compared to PPC in precontemplation/contemplation and preparation stages. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Interventions aimed at increasing FV accessibility for preschool-aged children should be tailored to meet PPCs’ stage of change. Interventions targeting PPC in precontemplation/contemplation stages should use methods to share ideas for planning meals and snacks to include FV. Interventions for PPC in the preparation stage should aim to build skills in quick preparation of economical FV, address parental role modeling of FV consumption, and encourage goal setting. Learning formats providing social support may prove effective in prevention of behavior relapse for PPC in action/maintenance stages.