Does health promotion work?

Adult participants with different lifestyles were questioned about their health-related behaviour and presented with selected health-promoting messages. Their attitudes were also assessed. Two months later, a follow-up survey was conducted to identify changes in attitudes and behaviour, and to analyse which aspects of the messages had been retained. The results revealed four fundamentally different behavioural patterns and approaches to the topic of health. The four types - Active, Passive, Conscious and Bon vivant - could be distinguished from one another. Differences emerged primarily in the areas of hobbies, physical activity, healthy eating, resource allocation, self-efficacy beliefs, expectations of action outcomes, seeking help, triggers for behavioural and attitudinal change, engagement with one's own risk-taking behaviour, as well as personal approaches to health information, coping with stress and managing one's own health. This naturally gives rise to implications and opportunities for type-specific health promotion.