About this Research Topic
Healthy lifestyles are currently trending, and as a result, more and more people are changing their attitudes towards health and their health-related habits. This is associated with a change in health-related behaviors, which is defined in the literature as mobilization of internal and external resources to modify [adverse] lifestyle habits in order to improve health and reduce the risk of illness (Chittem, Vemulakonda, Byrapaneni, 2014).
Recently, this topic has returned to the forefront due to the COVID-19 pandemic which forced people to change their behavior. It has caused individuals to reflect on the need and sense of undertaking health-promoting actions (and to help maintain and strengthen them). The health-related behavior change process and its effectiveness have been researched for many years, nonetheless, many questions remain unanswered.
Current research shows that people’s attempts to change their health-related behaviors often fail – the achieved effects are short-lived and people do not internalize the principles which underlie the changes they made. This Research Topic aims to invite contributions addressing the following questions:
- Why do people who change their health-related behaviors so often fail rather than succeed?
- Why are so few people able to make long-term changes?
- What factors contribute to people implementing health-related behavior change?
- Are motivational or volitional factors more important when undertaking health-related behaviors?
- What role do subjective features play in the change process, and how much of an impact do specialists (and the interventions they propose) make?
- What theoretical models explain health-related behavior?
- E-health technologies are extremely popular at present: do they (and to what extent) support the change process?
The current Research Topic aims to discuss the psychological conditions and correlates of how individuals effectively change their health-related behavior. We would like to invite authors to submit Original Research, Hypothesis and Theory, and Methods article types, which tackle the subject of people’s successes and failures in implementing health-related changes. We are especially interested in the following research areas: lifestyle change, weight control, changing eating behaviors and physical activity patterns, effectiveness of interventions, mental health promotion, measurement tools/e-tools in health psychology, and their usefulness in the change process.
Recently, this topic has returned to the forefront due to the COVID-19 pandemic which forced people to change their behavior. It has caused individuals to reflect on the need and sense of undertaking health-promoting actions (and to help maintain and strengthen them). The health-related behavior change process and its effectiveness have been researched for many years, nonetheless, many questions remain unanswered.
Current research shows that people’s attempts to change their health-related behaviors often fail – the achieved effects are short-lived and people do not internalize the principles which underlie the changes they made. This Research Topic aims to invite contributions addressing the following questions:
- Why do people who change their health-related behaviors so often fail rather than succeed?
- Why are so few people able to make long-term changes?
- What factors contribute to people implementing health-related behavior change?
- Are motivational or volitional factors more important when undertaking health-related behaviors?
- What role do subjective features play in the change process, and how much of an impact do specialists (and the interventions they propose) make?
- What theoretical models explain health-related behavior?
- E-health technologies are extremely popular at present: do they (and to what extent) support the change process?
The current Research Topic aims to discuss the psychological conditions and correlates of how individuals effectively change their health-related behavior. We would like to invite authors to submit Original Research, Hypothesis and Theory, and Methods article types, which tackle the subject of people’s successes and failures in implementing health-related changes. We are especially interested in the following research areas: lifestyle change, weight control, changing eating behaviors and physical activity patterns, effectiveness of interventions, mental health promotion, measurement tools/e-tools in health psychology, and their usefulness in the change process.
Keywords: positive health behavior change, health promotion, evidence-based health promotion, health practice, healthy lifestyle, health behavior interventions, health change, lifestyles
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
