The objective of the studies presented in this paper was to examine whether the need to belong can be used to enhance exercise cognitions and behavior. Two studies examined the effectiveness of framing exercise as a means of boosting social skills (versus health benefits) for self-regulatory efficacy, exercise intentions, and (in Study 2) exercise behavior. In Study 1, inactive adults primed to...

OBJECTIVE The present research examined the effects of the social environment on the onset of specific health ailments. DESIGN Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we examined participants' responses to social environment questions in 2006 as predictors of onset of different health conditions over the next four years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Healthy participants (n = 7514) reporte...

Objective To know the structure of the social representations of right to health and citizenship of health municipal councilors. Method This is a qualitative study, based on the central nucleus theory of social representations, carried out in eight municipalities of the Integrated Region for the Development of the Surroundings of the Federal District, Brazil. The intentional sample consisted ...

This article reports a meta-analysis of 28 studies examining the health-related outcomes associated with participation in a formal computer-mediated support group (CMSG) intervention. In particular, health outcomes related to social support were assessed and four group-level characteristics of CMSGs were tested as potential moderators of intervention effectiveness. The results show that partici...

The college years represent an important developmental period in the lives of young women, who report health-related difficulties such as sleep disturbance and body/eating concerns. This study explored whether expressive writing (EW) can decrease health-relevant complaints among college women. College females (n = 111) were randomised into an EW condition (writing about body concerns) or a cont...

the instrumental use of social networks has become a central tenet of international health policy and advocacy since the millennium project. in asking, ‘how to facilitate social contagion?’, karl blanchet of the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine therefore reflects not only on the recent success, but also hints to growing challenges; the tactics of partnerships, alliances and platfo...