TABLE 4.

Alignment of SCT Components With Participant “Wish List” Features for Mobile Phone-Based Interventions

SCT Component	Description of Participant Preferences and Comments
Outcome expectations	Nutrition education (eg, facts, tips, and healthy substitutes) about the benefits of healthy eating (eg, skin, body, and chronic disease).
Self-efficacy	Setting small goals until larger goal is reached—including benchmarks. Including faith-based messaging given some participants’ view of God as a source of “strength” during health challenges. Those who were “neutral” in their beliefs about including faith-based messaging indicated that they could ignore the messages and/or share them with friends and family.
Self-regulation	Goal-setting mechanisms with personalized, tailored feedback to encourage goal achievement Food tracking mechanisms The ability to send and receive messages Reminders (eg, “I might not be thinking about it, and then, it [the message] hits the phone and I say ‘You know what, let me do this.’”)
Behavioral capability	Providing the following: ◦ Low-cost, simple, healthy recipes ◦ Healthy cooking demonstrations (via URL link). The race/ethnicity of a chef/instructor was not of importance to participants. What did matter was that the food was similar to classic New Orleans-style dishes and flavorful. To manage expectations for this type of intervention strategy, it was suggested to call a healthier version of foods, such as gumbo, another name. If called “gumbo,” then they would expect a traditional Louisiana recipe and likely be upset. Participants indicated that they would view the links online and share with others. ◦ Lists of local and national food security resources (eg, services and programs) ◦ Lists of food stores to purchase healthy foods on-the-go
Modeling	Seeing and/or hearing the testimonials (video and/or text-based) of individuals similar to the target population who have been successful at eating healthier foods.
Rewards	Offering rewards, financial or otherwise, would encourage people to actively participate over time (eg, meeting a smaller goal, receiving a “reward,” and subsequently setting a new goal).

Abbreviation: SCT, social cognitive theory.