Health goals among American adults: Prevalence, characteristics, and barriers

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 1350-1355
Author(s):  
Marina Milyavskaya ◽  
Daniel Nadolny
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Goal Setting ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Implementation Intentions ◽  
Goal Pursuit ◽  
Health Goals ◽  
Health Goal ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
Reported Health

Although numerous factors have been demonstrated in laboratory settings to lead to more successful health goal attainment, their actual use in daily goal pursuit is unknown. This study examines spontaneously reported health goals and their characteristics in a sample of 557 American adults. Participants responded to questions about health and health goals, with items assessing motivation, social support, and implementation intentions. In all, 66 percent of respondents had a health goal, 26 percent of participants had implementation intentions, and 47 percent received support from close others. Results suggest that interventions should focus on encouraging goal setting, teaching implementation intentions, and educating close others in providing support.

Goal Setting in Sport and Performance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Healy ◽  
Alison Tincknell-Smith ◽  
Nikos Ntoumanis
Keyword(s):  
Goal Setting ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Goal Pursuit ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Effective Technique ◽  
Goal Progress ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
And Performance

Within sporting contexts, goal setting is a commonly used technique that can lead to enhanced performance. Recommendations for goal setting have been widely embraced in sport and performance settings by researchers, practitioners, athletes, and coaches. However, it could be argued that these recommendations are overly simplistic, and that a lack of critical commentary in the sporting literature fails to acknowledge the complexity of goal setting in practice. For example, there has been limited acknowledgement within the applied recommendations of important factors such as personal differences with those individuals setting goals, contextual and environmental factors, and the characteristics of goals being pursed. Equally, the focus of goal setting research and practice has predominantly been on goal progress or goal attainment, thus overlooking the wider benefits of effective goal pursuit on additional aspects such as well-being. Similarly, the interactions between these factors has gained little attention with the academic literature or applied recommendations. This may result in diminished effectiveness of goal setting for athletes, and ultimately lead to sub-optimal performance and well-being. Critical and comprehensive reviews of the literature are timely and necessary, in order to develop a deeper understanding of goal setting in sport and performance. Combining research from both within sport and from theorists examining goals within other contexts can enhance our understanding of how to promote and support adaptive goal pursuit within sport and performance. Overall, this may lead to more appropriate and useful recommendations for researchers, athletes, coaches, and applied practitioners, ensuring that goal setting can be an effective technique for a range of individuals within sport and performance contexts.

Goal Attainment

2019 ◽  
pp. 245-268
Author(s):  
Peter M. Gollwitzer ◽  
Gabriele Oettingen
Keyword(s):  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Intervention Studies ◽  
Implementation Intentions ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Goal Pursuit ◽  
The Self ◽  
Mental Contrasting ◽  
History Of ◽  
Regulation Strategies ◽  
Underlying Processes

This chapter begins with a description of how the goal concept emerged in the history of the psychology of motivation to better understand the important role it plays in current research on motivation. The chapter then turns to the self-regulation of goal pursuit. The effects and underlying processes of two different self-regulation strategies will be discussed in detail: mental contrasting and forming implementation intentions. The chapter concludes with a report of the results of recent intervention studies that combine the self-regulation strategies of mental contrasting and forming implementation intentions to help people enhance goal attainment in the health, academic, and interpersonal domains.

scholarly journals The use and evaluation of self-regulation techniques can predict health goal attainment in adults: an explorative study

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e1666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolien Plaete ◽  
Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij ◽  
Maite Verloigne ◽  
Geert Crombez
Keyword(s):  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Vegetable Intake ◽  
Implementation Intentions ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Implementation Intention ◽  
Fruit And Vegetable ◽  
Health Goal ◽  
Personal Advice

Background.Self-regulation tools are not always used optimally, and implementation intention plans often lack quality. Therefore, this study explored participants’ use and evaluation of self-regulation techniques and their impact on goal attainment.Methods.Data were obtained from 452 adults in a proof of concept (POC) intervention of ‘MyPlan’, an eHealth intervention using self-regulation techniques to promote three healthy behaviours (physical activity (PA), fruit intake, or vegetable intake). Participants applied self-regulation techniques to a self-selected health behaviour, and evaluated the self-regulation techniques. The quality of implementation intentions was rated by the authors as a function of instrumentality (instrumental and non-instrumental) and specificity (non-specific and medium to highly specific). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to predict goal attainment.Results.Goal attainment was significantly predicted by the motivational value of the personal advice (OR:1.86), by the specificity of the implementation intentions (OR:3.5), by the motivational value of the action plan (OR:1.86), and by making a new action plan at follow-up (OR:4.10). Interaction-effects with behaviour showed that the specificity score of the implementation intention plans (OR:4.59), the motivational value of the personal advice (OR:2.38), selecting hindering factors and solutions(OR:2.00) and making a new action plan at follow-up (OR:7.54) were predictive of goal attainment only for fruit or vegetable intake. Also, when participants in the fruit and vegetable group made more than three plans, they were more likely to attain their goal (OR:1.73), whereas the reverse was the case in the PA group (OR:0.34).Discussion.The chance that adults reach fruit and vegetable goals can be increased by including motivating personal advice, self-formulated action plans, and instructions/strategies to make specific implementation intentions into eHealth interventions. To increase the chance that adults reach short-term PA goals, it is suggested to keep eHealth PA interventions simple and focus only on developing a few implementation intentions. However, more research is needed to identify behaviour change techniques that can increase health goal attainment at long-term.

Goal Pursuit

2012 ◽  
pp. 207-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Gollwitzer ◽  
Gabriele Oettingen
Keyword(s):  
Goal Setting ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Implementation Intentions ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
The Self ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Theories Of Intelligence ◽  
Mental Contrasting ◽  
Goal Implementation

We start out with describing how the goal concept emerged in the history of the psychology of motivation to better understand the important role it plays in current research on motivation. We then suggest a differentiation between studies targeting the setting of goals versus the implementation of goals to get a grip on the host of empirical work the goal concept has triggered. With respect to goal setting, we first discuss studies that explore determinants affecting the content and structure of set goals (e.g., entity vs. incremental theories of intelligence influence the setting of performance vs. learning goals). We then turn to studies on the self-regulation of goal setting and discuss in detail how a self-regulation strategy called mental contrasting of future and reality facilitates strong commitment to feasible goals but dissolves commitment to unfeasible ones. With respect to goal implementation we first refer to studies on the determinants of effective goal striving (e.g., the framing of the set goal in terms of approach vs. avoidance) and then turn to analyzing the effective self-regulation of goal implementation. Here we focus on the strategy of forming implementation intentions (i.e., if-then plans) and explicate in detail how such planning helps in overcoming classic hurdles to goal attainment (e.g., distractions). We will end the chapter by reporting the results of recent intervention studies that successfully enhanced goal attainment in the health, academic, and interpersonal domains by combining the self-regulation strategy of mental contrasting with that of forming implementation intentions.

scholarly journals Planning for success: Trait self-control predicts goal attainment through the use of implementation intentions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaitlyn M. Werner ◽  
Hallgeir Sjåstad ◽  
Marina Milyavskaya ◽  
Wilhelm Hofmann
Keyword(s):  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Implementation Intentions ◽  
Goal Pursuit ◽  
Adaptive Strategies ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Control Scale ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Control Implementation

The purpose of this research was to examine the relation between trait self-control, implementation intentions, the subjective experience of obstacles, and goal attainment. Across three studies (Ntotal=3,152), participants completed the brief self-control scale, set goals for the next week (Studies 2-3) or next year (Study 1), and then rated whether they had implementation intentions for each goal. In a follow-up survey, participants rated the amount of progress they made on each goal (Studies 2-3). Self-control was positively associated with having implementation intentions (Studies 1-3), which in turn was associated with better goal attainment (Studies 2-3). We also found that both self-control and implementation intentions was negatively associated with the experience of obstacles during goal pursuit (Study 2), but this pattern was not replicated (Study 3). These findings suggest that people with higher levels of self-control are more likely to attain their goals because they use more adaptive strategies, such as implementation intentions.

scholarly journals Health Goal Attainment of Patients With Chronic Diseases in Web-Based Patient Communities: Content and Survival Analysis

10.2196/19895 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. e19895
Author(s):  
Jiahe Song ◽  
Pei Xu ◽  
David B Paradice
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Survival Analysis ◽  
Chronic Diseases ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Hazard Ratio ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Health Goals ◽  
Health Goal

Background Activities directed at attaining health goals are a major part of the daily lives of those fighting chronic diseases. A proliferating population of patients with chronic diseases are participating in web-based patient communities, wherein they can exchange health information and pursue health goals with others virtually. Objective In this study, we aimed to understand the effect of participation in social media–enabled web-based patient communities on health goal attainment. In particular, we studied the antecedents of health goal attainment in terms of social support and self-reflection in web-based patient communities. Methods This data set consists of web-based health management activities of 392 patients across 13 health support groups, that is, groups with medical issues such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and breast cancer; the data of the activities were collected from a leading web-based patient community. Content analysis was used to code the social interactions among the patients on the web-based platform. Cox regression for survival analysis was used to model the hazard ratio of health goal attainment. Results Our analysis indicated that emotional support from web-based patient communities can increase patients’ probability of achieving their goals (hazard ratio 1.957, 95% CI 1.416-2.706; P<.001) while informational support does not appear to be effective (P=.06). In addition, health-related self-reflection increases the patients’ likelihood of goal attainment through web-based patient communities (hazard ratio 1.937, 95% CI 1.318-2.848; P<.001), but leisure-oriented self-reflection reduces this likelihood (hazard ratio 0.588, 95% CI 0.442-0.784; P<.001). Conclusions Social media–enabled web-based platforms assist health goal management via both social interaction and personal discipline. This study extends the understanding of web-based patient communities by investigating the effects of both social and cognitive factors on goal attainment. In particular, our study advocates that health goals relating to chronic conditions can be better managed when patients use the facilities of web-based health communities strategically.

scholarly journals Health Goal Attainment of Patients With Chronic Diseases in Web-Based Patient Communities: Content and Survival Analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiahe Song ◽  
Pei Xu ◽  
David B Paradice
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Survival Analysis ◽  
Chronic Diseases ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Hazard Ratio ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Health Goals ◽  
Health Goal

BACKGROUND Activities directed at attaining health goals are a major part of the daily lives of those fighting chronic diseases. A proliferating population of patients with chronic diseases are participating in web-based patient communities, wherein they can exchange health information and pursue health goals with others virtually. OBJECTIVE In this study, we aimed to understand the effect of participation in social media–enabled web-based patient communities on health goal attainment. In particular, we studied the antecedents of health goal attainment in terms of social support and self-reflection in web-based patient communities. METHODS This data set consists of web-based health management activities of 392 patients across 13 health support groups, that is, groups with medical issues such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and breast cancer; the data of the activities were collected from a leading web-based patient community. Content analysis was used to code the social interactions among the patients on the web-based platform. Cox regression for survival analysis was used to model the hazard ratio of health goal attainment. RESULTS Our analysis indicated that emotional support from web-based patient communities can increase patients’ probability of achieving their goals (hazard ratio 1.957, 95% CI 1.416-2.706; <i>P</i>&lt;.001) while informational support does not appear to be effective (<i>P</i>=.06). In addition, health-related self-reflection increases the patients’ likelihood of goal attainment through web-based patient communities (hazard ratio 1.937, 95% CI 1.318-2.848; <i>P</i>&lt;.001), but leisure-oriented self-reflection reduces this likelihood (hazard ratio 0.588, 95% CI 0.442-0.784; <i>P</i>&lt;.001). CONCLUSIONS Social media–enabled web-based platforms assist health goal management via both social interaction and personal discipline. This study extends the understanding of web-based patient communities by investigating the effects of both social and cognitive factors on goal attainment. In particular, our study advocates that health goals relating to chronic conditions can be better managed when patients use the facilities of web-based health communities strategically.

scholarly journals Comparing mental contrasting with implementation intentions against solution-focused and autonomous planning

2021 ◽  
pp. 014303432110003
Author(s):  
Adam Abdulla ◽  
Ruth Woods
Keyword(s):  
Goal Setting ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Implementation Intentions ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Goal Progress ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Mental Contrasting ◽  
Autonomous Planning ◽  
Solution Focused

Research suggests that mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) enhances commitment and goal attainment. However, most studies have used limited comparison conditions. The present study compared MCII against two other potentially effective approaches: autonomous planning (AP), and solution-focused planning (SFP). It was thought that condition would have an indirect effect on goal progress by affecting commitment. However, goal attainment expectancy was hypothesised to be a moderator such that MCII has positive effects when expectancy is high but negative effects when expectancy is low. Ninety-eight female students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: 1) MCII, 2) AP, or 3) SFP. All students initially set themselves a goal for the coming week regarding personal projects. Mean commitment and goal progress were marginally higher in the MCII condition than in the AP and SFP conditions but the differences were not statistically significant and (as predicted) much smaller than in previous research. Expectancy did not appear to have a moderating effect. The apparent benefits of MCII were larger relative to AP than to SFP. Results suggest that MCII may sometimes be no more effective than other approaches to goal-setting and planning, particularly if they are evidence-based and carefully-designed. Implications for schools are addressed.

Predicting Academic Success: Self-Efficacy, Motivation, Expectancy, Goal-Setting, and Social Support

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Jackson ◽  
Corey E. Miller ◽  
Nicole Arbuckle ◽  
Brian Michael ◽  
Elizabeth Peyton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Goal Setting ◽  
Self Efficacy
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