Crystal Smit

Chapter 5 104 2008). In order to support the influence agents in motivating their peers, influence agents were encouraged in the training to choose how exactly they wished to motivate their peers. Therefore, the influence agents were asked to think and decide for themselves concerning how to promote water drinking and were facilitated in sharing their devised ideas with their peers. The technique of providing the influence agents with skills on how to motivate peers included providing information on how to perform the target behavior and promoting the feeling of competence in the behavior (Gillison et al., 2019; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Teixeira et al., 2020). Therefore, in the training, through possible scenarios, it was discussed how and when they could promote water drinking among their peers to provide them the skills to do so. A possible water-promoting strategy discussed in these scenarios was setting a good example by drinking water themselves. Research has shown that children tend to model the intake behavior of their peers (Cruwys et al., 2015). In addition, it was also discussed that they could promote water drinking through informal communication (Rogers, 2010), for example, by talking about water drinking at school or sending messages and short videos about it (see Figure 5.3) on Social Buzz to their peers. Subsequently, they brainstormed together about potential barriers they might encounter and how to overcome them. Finally, the influence agents were continuously supported by the researchers in motivating their peers, which corresponds to their need for relatedness (Gillison et al., 2019; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Teixeira et al., 2020). Measurements The sections below describe the evaluation measurements used to collect quantitative (close-ended) and qualitative (open-ended) data from both the influence agents and the peers. Table 5.1 presents an overview of the quantitative measurements.