Understanding the Factors Influencing Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Behavior of Office Workers: Intervention Strategies Using Social Marketing Techniques Based on Pender’s Health Promotion Model

Background: Due to the low consumption of fruits and vegetables in adults, most of them are employed in workplaces; this condition is a good opportunity to implement an intervention to influence the behavior of this group. This study aims to determine the effects of social marketing techniques in an intervention on fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake among office staff. Methods: This descriptive study was a formative research. This study was conducted on 70 administrative staff in a government office in Ghaemshahr City, Mazandaran Province, Iran in two stages, formative research and developing intervention strategies according to social marketing techniques. Formative research consists of two distinct phases, qualitative and quantitative. The categories were extracted using the direct content analysis method by MAX QDA at the qualitative stage, and the questionnaire data were analyzed by SPSS software, version 22 using descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple linear regression. Results: In the qualitative section, factors affecting F&V consumption were extracted into five main categories, including product, place, price, promotion, and organizational support. In the quantitative stage, the mean age of participants was 42.14±6.84 years, and the lowest percentage of mean scores related to the commitment to the action plan (29.16%) was related to the construct of Pender’s health promotion model (HPM). Previous related behaviors, behavioral outcomes, preferences, and immediate demand predicted 43% of F&V consumption behavior. The mean intake of F&V per day was 1.57±1.32 and 0.45±0.75 units, respectively. Conclusion: Although social marketing is a planning process, using theory can lead to the development of effective and accurate marketing strategies by covering all aspects of behavior to take more effective action to improve it.