Crystal Smit

Social Network Intervention vs. Mass Media Intervention 4 73 The Social Network Intervention Share H 2 O The social network intervention involved selecting and training a subset of children from each classroom as influence agents to promote water consumption—as an alternative to SSB—among their peers. The content of the social network intervention training was nearly the same as the pilot version of the Share H 2 O intervention (Smit et al., 2016). However, for this study, we aimed to improve the training content by incorporating more principles of the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2017) to increase the intrinsic motivation of the peers, in addition to that of the influence agents. Another difference was that in the current study, research assistants were trained to deliver the training to the influence agents, instead of the primary investigator. In general, the purpose of the training was twofold. The first aim was to motivate the influence agents by providing them with the benefits of drinking water—as an alternative for SSB—and encourage them with self-generated arguments to drink more water. The second aim was to support the influence agents in motivating their peers by providing them with the skills to promote water consumption and identifying potential barriers. Compared to the pilot study, we placed more emphasis in the training on how the influence agents could create an intrinsic motivating climate for their peers while promoting water consumption. Recent research has shown that being intrinsically motivated is an important predictor for positively altering children’s water drinking behaviors (Smit et al., 2018). According to self-determination theory, being autonomy supportive enhances intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Soenens & Vansteenkiste, 2010). To this end, possible barriers that the influence agents might encounter while promoting drinking water and how they could overcome these whiles being autonomy supportive were discussed, for example, by taking in consideration the perspective of their peers or providing them with meaningful rationales (Soenens & Vansteenkiste, 2010). One week after the training, a follow-up session took place to provide visible support, resolve any issues experienced by the influence agents in their role and refresh the information discussed in the training.