@Article{info:doi/10.2196/37389,
author="Stewart, Cristina
and Piernas, Carmen
and Frie, Kerstin
and Cook, Brian
and Jebb, Susan A",
title="Evaluation of OPTIMISE (Online Programme to Tackle Individual's Meat Intake Through Self-regulation): Cohort Study",
journal="J Med Internet Res",
year="2022",
month="Dec",
day="12",
volume="24",
number="12",
pages="e37389",
keywords="self-regulation; self-monitoring; goal setting; meat intake; meat reduction; multi-component intervention; health; nutrition; diet",
abstract="Background: There is an urgent need to reduce society's meat consumption to help mitigate climate change and reduce noncommunicable diseases. Objective: This study aimed to investigate changes in meat intake after participation in an online, multicomponent, self-regulation intervention. Methods: We conducted a pre-post observational study among adult meat eaters in the United Kingdom who signed up to a website offering support based on self-regulation theory to reduce meat consumption. The program lasted 9 weeks (including a 1-week baseline phase, a 4-week active intervention phase, and a 4-week maintenance phase), comprising self-monitoring, goal setting, action planning, and health and environmental feedback. Meat intake was estimated during weeks 1, 5, and 9 using a 7-day meat frequency questionnaire. We analyzed the change in mean daily meat intake from baseline to week 5 and week 9 among those reporting data using a hierarchical linear mixed model. We assessed changes in attitudes toward meat consumption by questionnaire and considered the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention. Results: The baseline cohort consisted of 289 participants, of whom 77 were analyzed at week 5 (26.6{\%} of the baseline sample) and 55 at week 9 (71.4{\%} of the week 5 sample). We observed large reductions in meat intake at 5 and 9 weeks: --57 (95{\%} CI --70 to --43) g/day (P<.001) and --49 (95{\%} CI --64 to --34) g/day (P<.001), respectively. Participants' meat-free self-efficacy increased, meat-eating identities moved toward reduced-meat and non--meat-eating identities, and perceptions of meat consumption as the social norm reduced. Participants who completed the study reported high engagement and satisfaction with the intervention. Conclusions: Among people motivated to engage, this online self-regulation program may lead to large reductions in meat intake for more than 2 months, with promising signs of a change in meat-eating identity toward more plant-based diets. This digital behavior change intervention could be offered to complement population-level interventions to support reduction of meat consumption. ",
issn="1438-8871",
doi="10.2196/37389",
url="https://www.jmir.org/2022/12/e37389",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/37389",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36508245"
}