Promoting healthy eating in pregnancy: what kind of support services do women say they want?

Aim: To identify characteristics of the services and support women want to enable them to eat healthily during pregnancy to make a potential future service acceptable to this population.

Background: An unhealthy diet during pregnancy may have a significant influence on pregnancy outcome, either directly through nutrient deficiencies or indirectly through maternal weight gain. Many pregnant women in the United Kingdom gain too much weight in pregnancy, and this weight gain may lead to an increased risk of preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and having an obese child.

The views of pre- and post-natal women and health professionals regarding gestational weight gain: An exploratory study.

Objectives: To explore the views of pre- and post-natal women and health professionals regarding gestational weight gain. The health professionals' views concerning their provision to prevent unhealthy weight gain in pregnancy were also elicited. These views may inform the design of future interventions targeting gestational weight gain.

What is the best way to change self-efficacy to promote lifestyle and recreational physical activity? A systematic review with meta-analysis.

Purpose: Increasing self-efficacy is an effective method to increase physical activity. Despite this, the evidence concerning the most effective techniques to increase self-efficacy in physical activity interventions has not been systematically reviewed. The aim of the present research is to systematically gather, and meta-analyse, intervention studies which aimed to increase self-efficacy for physical activity; to estimate the association between intervention techniques used, and change in self-efficacy achieved.

Understanding the coping process from a self-determination theory perspective.

Purpose: To explore conceptual links between the cognitive-motivational-relational theory (CMRT) of coping (Lazarus, 1991) and self-determination theory (SDT) of motivation (Deci & Ryan, 1985).

Method: We present a very brief overview of the two theories. We also discuss how components from the two theories can be examined together to facilitate research in the health/exercise domain.

Examining exercise dependence symptomatology from a self-determination perspective.

Background Pulling from Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985), this study examined whether individuals classified as 'nondependent-symptomatic' and 'nondependent-asymptomatic' for exercise dependence differed in terms of reported levels of exercise-related psychological need satisfaction, self-determined versus controlling motivation and exercise behavior. In addition, we examined the type of motivational regulations predicting exercise behavior among these different groups, and their role as mediators between psychological need satisfaction and behavioral outcomes. Methods Participants (N = 339) completed measures of exercise-specific psychological need satisfaction, motivational regulations, exercise behavior and exercise dependence.