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Relationships Between Theoretically Derived Short-Term Outcomes and Support for Policy Among the Public and Decision-Makers
IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION — Volume 15 — May 17, 2018
PEER REVIEWED
Perceived seriousness of obesity is predicted to influence beliefs about environmental causes of obesity (causal beliefs), which in turn predicts beliefs about societal responsibility for the solution to obesity (responsibility beliefs), which in turn predicts support for obesity-related policies. Exploratory paths tested were whether perceived seriousness of obesity is related to beliefs about societal responsibility for the solution to obesity, whether perceived seriousness is related to support for obesity-related policies, and whether environmental causes of obesity are related to support for obesity-related policies.
Figure 1.
Predicted theory of change model used to operationally define the constructs of the Healthy Living Focus Area theory of change, the relationships between these constructs, and the hypothesized relationships of the constructs to support for obesity policies, Kansas Health Foundation, 2014. Dashed lines represent exploratory paths not predicted in the theory of change. Solid lines are paths predicted in the theory of change.
Perceived seriousness of obesity had a direct effect on policy support (an exploratory path) (β = 0.08; P < .01). Perceived seriousness was also associated with causal beliefs (a predicted path) (β = 0.18; P < .001). Causal beliefs, in turn, had a significant association with responsibility beliefs (a predicted path) (β = 0.43; P < .001) and policy support (an exploratory path) (β = 0.26; P < .001). Responsibility beliefs were significantly related to policy support (a predicted path) (β = 0.27; P < .001). Overall, perceived seriousness of obesity, environmental causal beliefs, and societal responsibility beliefs accounted for 21% of the variance in policy support. For responsibility beliefs, R squared = 0.19, and for causal beliefs, R squared = 0.03. RMSEA = 0.02, χ squared = 2.15; df = 1; P = .14.
Figure 2.
Mediational model for the General Public Survey sample, 2014. Abbreviations: df, degrees of freedom; RMSEA, root mean square error of approximation. *P< .01; **P< .001.
Perceived seriousness of obesity affected causal beliefs (β = 0.35; P < .001) significantly. Causal beliefs, in turn, had a significant association with responsibility beliefs (β = 0.47; P < .001) and policy support (β = 0.54; P < .001). Responsibility beliefs were significantly related to policy support (β = 0.22; P < .001). Overall, perceived seriousness of obesity, environmental causal beliefs, and societal responsibility beliefs accounted for 44% of the variance in policy support. For responsibility beliefs, R squared = 0.22, and for causal beliefs, R squared = 0.13. RMSEA = 0.00, χ squared = 1.99; df = 2; P = .37.
Figure 3.
Mediational model for the Opinion Leader Survey sample, 2014. Abbreviations: df, degrees of freedom; RMSEA, root mean square error of approximation. *P< .001.
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