Making the decision
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DISEASE
Two distinct views were identified in the informants’ health-related decision-making process. At baseline, roughly half of the informants had a starting point similar to a problem-focused coping process. Central was to try avoiding disease by changing behaviour.For other informants, the starting point was instead taking actions or deciding to continue with their healthy routine because they wanted to ‘keep a good result’ and stay in good health. The motive was formulated in positive terms; striving for health rather than avoiding disease.Well, since it looked good, so to say […] I felt that this I have to try to maintain somehow. (Woman, informant 17)At the three-year follow-up, when the informants found out that their health status had improved, there was a shift among informants who had previously expressed a problem-focused approach to an encouragement-driven approach.