Table 1.
Category | Text message | Key strategies | Examples of adolescent responsesa |
Healthy eating | After dinner can be a good time to eat some fruit. If you had less than 2 bits of fruit today, you might like some tinned apricots & yoghurt for dessert? | Message including a ‘helpful tip’ |
I liked it except I didn’t have any of that stuff. [Adolescent 10 (A10)] I’d prefer if you told me to have strawberries. [A12] |
It’s ok but I don’t really eat after dinner. [A4] | |||
Sedentary behavior | A CAFAP teen has found using an egg-timer is a good way of knowing it’s time for an active break after playing on the computer for 30 mins. You could choose to try it too. | Testimonial message | Most probably wouldn’t influence my behavior because, I don’t know, I get addicted to my computer. [A3] |
Physical activity | What are the reasons you want to be more active? You might like to think about these when the going gets tough! | Intrinsic motivation, reflecting goal-setting process used during the program | It makes you actually think about it. You have it there but you don’t actually think about it. [A7] |
Physical activity | How many steps have you done today? How about trying to do a few extra thousand steps this afternoon? | Reflective questioning |
There’s nothing wrong with it, but like saying a few extra thousand like is too much. [A5] It would make you think about doing more steps. [A1] |
Goal setting | Have a look at your goals for physical activity, sedentary behavior and healthy eating. Plan something fun to do this weekend to help meet your goals. | Bigger picture, reinforcing key CAFAP areas and goal setting. | I have homework on the weekend, like every day… If I’m not doing homework I’m sleeping. Like pretty much. [A11] |
Healthy eating | How many bits of junk food have u had today? You could challenge yourself to see if you can go the rest of the day without any junk food. Some cut up fruit might be a sweet treat instead! | Reflective questioning and ‘helpful tip’ | I felt really guilty because I think I’d had ummm I’d had something, maybe a donut for breakfast. [A2] |
aAdolescents were assigned a code to distinguish between responders. The code ranges from A1-A12.