Determinants of supplementation among Canadian university students: a theory of planned behavior perspective

A reasoned action approach to meditation behavior among cadets at the United States Military Academy

Military members face emotion-regulation challenges due to the high-pressure nature of the profession as evidenced by rates of mental health issues within military populations. Identifying behaviors that are efficient and effective at promoting emotion-regulation and helping military members adopt them is essential. Recently, meditation has been shown to reduce stress, enhance attention control and emotion regulation, along with reducing military-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms. One way to promote this behavior in a military context is to enable future officers to adopt the behavior. We aimed to examine determinants of meditation intention and behavior among cadets at the United States Military Academy using the Reasoned Action Approach, a behavior framework used to explain and change behavior. By identifying these determinants, military practitioners can tailor meditation interventions to increase the likelihood that cadets will adopt the practice and eventually help soldiers under their command use meditation as well. We conducted a pilot study and a replication study that confirmed Reasoned Action Approach constructs were predictive of behavior and behavioral intention. Of significance was the perceived norm impact on meditation intention, specifically injunctive norms. Implications include the importance of authority figures within cadets' social context providing support for meditation's utility.

The Development and Efficacy of a High School Athlete Education Program for Safe Nutritional Supplement Use

Many high school athletes report using nutritional supplements. Due to a lack of education at the high school level, the use of safe for sports third-party tested nutritional supplements may be limited. To determine the impact of a short online nutritional supplement education program on safe dietary supplement behavior a cross-sectional repeated measures design was used. Therefore, a convenience sample of 106 high school athletes (14-19 years old) was recruited to measure pre-post education difference for nutritional supplement use and third-party tested (TPT) supplements. Additionally, it was analyzed if nutritional supplement related Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constructs were associated with athlete choices. The most popular supplements included protein powder (65%), caffeine from beverages (45%), and different types of vitamins (ranging from 38-44%). Consistent use of (safe) third-party tested individual supplements was low, ranging from 35-77% for the most frequently reported supplements. The combined TPB determinants explained 26% of the variance of the intention to use safe supplements (F3, 102 = 13.03, p < 0.001, Adj R2 = 0.26). The self-reported intention to use third-party tested supplements increased significantly (+7%-36% per individual supplement) after following the education program (Z = -3.288, p = 0.001) resulting in an intentional use of 54-94% TPT supplements. In conclusion, education resulted in more high school athletes reporting future third-party tested supplements use, and TPB construct scores did not change over time but could explain a substantial part of the variance of safe supplement use intentions.