Understanding behavioural clusters: Identifying differences between clusters of health behaviours on key constructs

The Association Between Healthy Lifestyle Behaviours and Coronavirus Protective Behaviours

BACKGROUND

Based on models of cross-behavioural associations and the role of past behaviour in predicting behaviour, an association was hypothesized between healthy lifestyle behaviours prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and adherence to coronavirus protective behaviours. Self-assessed health was also examined as a potential moderator.

METHODS

A cross-sectional sample (N = 463) completed online questionnaires during a COVID-19-related lockdown that measured engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviours (e.g., exercising and eating fruits and vegetables), adherence to coronavirus protective behaviours (e.g., wearing a face mask and practicing social distancing), and self-assessed health (subjective evaluation of overall health).

RESULTS

As predicted, higher engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviours prior to the pandemic was significantly correlated with higher adherence to coronavirus protective behaviours (Pearson r(459) = .308, p < .001). Adherence levels were higher than engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviours, and self-assessed health was related to the latter but not to the former. Moderation was examined using model 1 in PROCESS for SPSS; as expected, the association was stronger among individuals with higher levels of self-assessed health (coefficient 95% CI [.04, .20]).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight cross-behavioural facilitating processes, specifically between lifestyle behaviours and adherence to recommended protective behaviours during the pandemic. They also draw attention to the need to address individuals whose poorer evaluations of their general health might prevent them from implementing their behavioural intentions.

Exploring dimensions of health behaviors' representations

Objectives: To discover underlying dimensions of health behavior representations and to suggest a new framework for their investigation.Methods: A total of 1709 participants rated 45 health behaviors on 14 theoretical constructs denoting features by which individuals can cognitively represent health behaviors. Correlations among constructs were aggregated across behaviors using a meta-analytic approach, and subjected to factor analysis.Results: The analysis resulted in three interpretable dimensions: 'Importance', 'Negative Experience' and 'Ease', and one tentative factor, 'Other'.Conclusion: 'Importance', 'Negative Experience' and 'Ease' may be considered key dimensions for studying perceptions of health behaviors within a self-regulatory framework. These dimensions suggest new integrative and parsimonious ways for investigating health behaviors. The findings also highlight the importance of expanding the category of health behaviors to include psycho-social behaviors (e.g. stress management, social relationships), and the need for theoretical refinement of affective constructs anticipated during and after performance of health behaviors. This may improve the understanding and potential modification of health behaviors.

Self-compassion, physical health, and health behaviour: a meta-analysis

This meta-analysis investigated relationships between self-compassion and (1) physical health and (2) health-promoting behaviour in a large pooled sample (N = 29,588) sourced from 94 peer-reviewed articles. As hypothesised, omnibus analyses revealed positive associations between self-compassion and both physical health (r = .18) and health behaviour (r = .26). Moderation analyses using 290 effects found that both associations varied according to health domain, participant age, intervention duration, and self-compassion measure. Self-compassion predicted outcomes in most health domains, with the strongest effects observed on global physical health, functional immunity, composite health behaviour, sleep, and danger avoidance. It did not predict frailty, maladaptive bodily routines, and substance abuse. Multi-session interventions designed to boost self-compassion predicted increased physical health and health behaviour, thereby supporting causal links between self-compassion and health outcomes. The effects of single-session inductions were non-significant. The mean effect of self-compassion on physical health was non-significant for young participants (12.00-19.99) and its effect on health behaviour was weakest among older participants (40.00+). Results support the proposition that self-compassion can promote better physical health. Practical implications of these findings are discussed.

The relationship between frequency of performance and perceived importance of health behaviours

The relationship between performance of health behaviours and their perceived importance was examined among 250 adults. Frequency of performance and perceived importance of 21 health behaviours, self-assessed health and the Big Five personality traits were measured. As expected, importance and performance were positively correlated. Self-assessed health was more strongly associated with performance than importance, and a model wherein importance affects performance, which in turn affects self-assessed health, was superior to a model wherein performance affects importance. The Big Five significantly explained performance, particularly conscientiousness, and importance explained performance beyond this effect. Consequently, importance perceptions should be considered when developing behavioural interventions.

Breaking bad habits by improving executive function in individuals with obesity

Background

Two primary factors that contribute to obesity are unhealthy eating and sedentary behavior. These behaviors are particularly difficult to change in the long-term because they are often enacted habitually. Cognitive Remediation Therapy has been modified and applied to the treatment of obesity (CRT-O) with preliminary results of a randomized controlled trial demonstrating significant weight loss and improvements in executive function. The objective of this study was to conduct a secondary data analysis of the CRT-O trial to evaluate whether CRT-O reduces unhealthy habits that contribute to obesity via improvements in executive function.

Method

Eighty participants with obesity were randomized to CRT-O or control. Measures of executive function (Wisconsin Card Sort Task and Trail Making Task) and unhealthy eating and sedentary behavior habits were administered at baseline, post-intervention and at 3 month follow-up.

Results

Participants receiving CRT-O demonstrated improvements in both measures of executive function and reductions in both unhealthy habit outcomes compared to control. Mediation analyses revealed that change in one element of executive function performance (Wisconsin Card Sort Task perseverance errors) mediated the effect of CRT-O on changes in both habit outcomes.

Conclusion

These results suggest that the effectiveness of CRT-O may result from the disruption of unhealthy habits made possible by improvements in executive function. In particular, it appears that cognitive flexibility, as measured by the Wisconsin Card Sort task, is a key mechanism in this process. Improving cognitive flexibility may enable individuals to capitalise on interruptions in unhealthy habits by adjusting their behavior in line with their weight loss goals rather than persisting with an unhealthy choice.

Trial registration

The RCT was registered with the Australian New Zealand Registry of Clinical Trials (trial id: ACTRN12613000537752).