Purpose: To identify individuals' health goals and describe their preferences in attaining those goals and to explore associations of type of goals with individual characteristics.
Data sources: In a descriptive study, 60 adult patients from primary care clinics completed written questionnaires anonymously. Content analyses and frequencies were used to summarize data.
Conclusions: Health promotion interventions could be more effective if they were customized, in part, to individuals' health goals. There are few evidence-based descriptions of individuals' own health goals and their preferences in how to pursue them. Participants in this study shared common goals to get in shape, lose weight, and change consumption. Participants preferred to meet initially with practitioners to obtain advice and to connect subsequently by telephone for monitoring.
Implications: Participants did want to improve their health. More specific understanding of such goals and preferences is needed to guide future interventions. Findings can inform clinicians and guide researchers in how to design health behavior interventions.