Faculty for Accounting, Finance and Marketing, University of Aruba, J.E. Irausquinplein 4, Oranjestad, Aruba.
Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Montessorilaan 3, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Apr 10;15(4):713. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15040713.
Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption and the associated childhood obesity are major concerns in the Caribbean, creating a need for interventions promoting water consumption as a healthy alternative. A social network-based intervention (SNI) was tested among Aruban children to increase their water consumption and behavioral intention to do so and, consequently, to decrease SSB consumption and the associated behavioral intention. In this study, the moderating effects of descriptive and injunctive norms were tested. A cluster randomized controlled trial was completed in schools (mean age = 11 years ± SD = 0.98; 54% girls). Children were assigned to the intervention group (IG; = 192) or control group (CG; = 185). IG children were exposed to peer influencers promoting water consumption and CG children were not. Regression analyses showed that water consumption increased for IG children with a high injunctive norm score ( = 0.05); however, their intention to consume more water remained unchanged ( = 0.42). Moreover, IG children showed a decrease in SSB consumption ( = 0.04) and an increase in their intention to consume less SSB ( = 0.00). These findings indicate that SNIs are a promising instrument for health behavioral changes for Aruba and other islands in the Caribbean region.
含糖饮料（SSB）的消费及其导致的儿童肥胖是加勒比地区的主要关注点，因此需要采取干预措施，提倡将水作为健康饮品。本研究在阿鲁巴儿童中测试了一种基于社交网络的干预（SNI），以增加他们的水摄入量和饮水意愿，从而减少 SSB 的摄入量和相关的行为意图。在这项研究中，检验了描述性规范和禁令规范的调节作用。在学校中完成了一项群组随机对照试验（平均年龄= 11 岁±SD=0.98；54%的女孩）。孩子们被分配到干预组（IG；n=192）或对照组（CG；n=185）。IG 组的孩子接触到鼓励他们多喝水的同伴影响者，而 CG 组的孩子则没有。回归分析显示，对于具有高禁令规范得分的 IG 儿童，他们的饮水量增加（ = 0.05）；然而，他们的增加饮水量的意愿没有改变（ = 0.42）。此外，IG 组的儿童 SSB 摄入量减少（ = 0.04），而他们减少 SSB 摄入量的意愿增加（ = 0.00）。这些发现表明，SNI 是促进阿鲁巴和加勒比地区其他岛屿健康行为改变的有前途的工具。
