Lorraine L. Landais, Judith G. M. Jelsma, Olga C. Damman, Evert A. L. M. Verhagen, Danielle R. M. Timmermans
Abstract
To investigate the effect of an active choice (AC) intervention based on creating risk and choice awareness–versus a passive choice (PC) control group–on intentions and commitment to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk-reducing behavior.
Introduction
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide [1]. In primary CVD prevention, individuals with moderate to high CVD risk are typically recommended to make lifestyle changes, including smoking cessation, a healthy diet, sufficient physical activity, and, if needed, use of preventive medication [2, 3].
Material and Methods
Following the CONSORT guideline for reporting parallel group randomized trials, this article reports data exclusions, manipulations, measures included, and sample size determination.
Result
Of 12,593 invited panel members, 2,378 completed the eligibility questions. Eventually, 1,454 panel members did not meet inclusion criteria, and 7 quit during the assessment.
Discussion
The aim of this study was to find empirical support that fostering an active choice (AC), through an intervention based on risk awareness, leads to greater commitment and intention for behavioral change to reduce cardiovascular risk than information and advice only (i.e., a passive choice (PC)).
Conclusion
Using a hypothetical risk situation, our study provides evidence of the benefit of promoting an active choice to increase cognitive risk perceptions, negative affect, active decision-making, intention to take preventive actions, and stronger commitment towards CVD risk-reducing behavior.
Citation: Landais LL, Jelsma JGM, Damman OC, Verhagen EALM, Timmermans DRM (2024) Fostering active choice to empower behavioral change to reduce cardiovascular risk: A web-based randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE 19(8): e0304897. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304897
Editor: Henri Tilga, University of Tartu, ESTONIA
Received: October 31, 2023; Accepted: May 21, 2024; Published: August 1, 2024
Copyright: © 2024 Landais et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. Additional file 1 presents the code used for the statistical analyses.
Funding: Funded by Amsterdam University Medical Center. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exists
Source: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0304897#sec029
