A meta-analysis of self-determination theory-informed intervention studies in the health domain
Ntoumanis and colleagues meta-analysed seventy-three experimental studies in which an intervention based on self-determination theory was used in health promotion or disease management, and which measured both a motivational outcome and a health outcome. The results are positive and modest. Interventions produced small to medium changes in most of the theory's own constructs by the end of the intervention period, and small to medium changes in health behaviour both at the end and at later follow-up, with small improvements in physical and psychological health. The mechanism part matters more than the size. Increases in support for autonomy and in autonomous motivation were associated with better behaviour change; increases in controlled motivation were not. So the theory's own account of why it works is supported rather than assumed. The authors are direct that the effects are modest and that the studies vary considerably among themselves. This vault cites it whenever a motivational intervention is described as though the effect were large.
Ntoumanis and colleagues meta-analysed seventy-three experimental studies in which an intervention based on self-determination theory was used in health promotion or disease management, and which measured both a motivational outcome and a health outcome. The results are positive and modest. Interventions produced small to medium changes in most of the theory's own constructs by the end of the intervention period, and small to medium changes in health behaviour both at the end and at later follow-up, with small improvements in physical and psychological health. The mechanism part matters more than the size. Increases in support for autonomy and in autonomous motivation were associated with better behaviour change; increases in controlled motivation were not. So the theory's own account of why it works is supported rather than assumed. The authors are direct that the effects are modest and that the studies vary considerably among themselves. This vault cites it whenever a motivational intervention is described as though the effect were large.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
Need support g = 0.643; autonomy g = 0.370; competence g = 0.306; relatedness g = 0.202, p = .10, and g = 0.027 at follow-up.
Where we use it
- Somebody Notices When You Are Missing, Why We Move
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The source
https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2020.1718529
DOI: 10.1080/17437199.2020.1718529