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Unpalatable food for thought: Let marketing research guide effective public obesity interventions
Author(s) -
Holden Stephen S.,
Zlatevska Natalina,
Parkinson Joy,
Cadario Romain,
Dubelaar Chris,
Lei Jing,
Moore Elizabeth,
Sayarh Nada,
Van Kerckhove Anneleen,
Werle Carolina
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
obesity reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.845
H-Index - 162
eISSN - 1467-789X
pISSN - 1467-7881
DOI - 10.1111/obr.13141
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , social marketing , moderation , public health , obesity , population , psychology , medicine , public relations , environmental health , marketing , social psychology , political science , business , nursing
Summary The prevalence of obesity is growing unabatedly despite the considerable efforts directed at the problem. Although abundant research has contributed to our understanding of the multifactorial causes of obesity, there is less attention to research that is relevant for guiding social marketers, public health professionals and policymakers in delivering public health interventions for countering and/or preventing the problem of obesity. This review offers six points for identifying and developing research relevant for guiding community‐wide obesity interventions based on the idea that an applied marketing research perspective offers a better model for identifying effective interventions than more theoretical academic research. Specifically, the research guiding public health and social marketing interventions needs to (1) provide information on ultimate outcomes (weight, health and unintended consequences) more than intermediate outcomes (beliefs, attitudes and behaviour), (2) report on observations collected over the longer term, (3) use natural settings (even at a cost of internal validity), (4) endeavour to overcome observer‐effects, (5) report effect sizes (rather than statistical significance) and (6) use moderator analyses to capture variation in how a population responds to interventions.