Motivators and Facilitators of Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Tongan Adults

Emily Mitchell; Crystal Áke; Steven Underhill; Sarah Burkhart

doi:10.3390/nu17091510

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Motivators and Facilitators of Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Tongan Adults

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Motivators and Facilitators of Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Tongan Adults

Emily Mitchell, Crystal Áke, Steven Underhill and Sarah Burkhart

Nutrients, Vol.17(9), pp.1-16

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17091510

PMCID: PMC12073925

PMID: 40362816

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Abstract

fruits and vegetables

motivators

facilitators

Tonga

health

Pacific Islands

nutrition

Background/Objectives: Changes to food systems and food environments across the Pacific Islands region have influenced dietary behaviors. While dietary intake is limited, it is believed that fruit and vegetable consumption is low within these populations. Given the benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption, this exploratory study aimed to identify the motivators and facilitators of fruit and vegetable intake in a subset of Tongan adults. Methods: Semi-structured, 30 min interviews were conducted in Tongan with 12 participants (5 fieldworkers and 3 female community members who were interviewed separately and 4 women who took part in a small group interview). The responses were translated into English and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Most participants thought that low fruit and vegetable consumption was of concern in Tongan communities. All participants agreed that diverse fruit and vegetable consumption is a priority for Tongan people and that communities are motivated to consume more fruits and vegetables. A total of 12 themes were derived from the results: 6 motivational and 6 facilitating, including determinants such as dietary patterns (taste and culture), community engagement/working in groups, and financial factors. Conclusions: While using a small sample size from Tongatapu, this provides a valuable insight from the Tongan communities’ perspectives on motivators and facilitators of fruit and vegetable consumption. The results offer policymakers, government, and NGOs contextually relevant and up-to-date data that can be used when developing health and nutrition programs.

Details

Title: Motivators and Facilitators of Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Tongan Adults
Authors: Emily Mitchell (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health
Crystal Áke - MORDI Tonga Trust
Steven Underhill - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research
Sarah Burkhart - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research
Publication details: Nutrients, Vol.17(9), pp.1-16
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.3390/nu17091510
ISSN: 2072-6643
PMID: 40362816; PMC12073925
Copyright note: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Data Availability: Please contact the corresponding author to request data.
Grants: Enhanced fruit systems for Tonga and Samoa (Phase 2): Community based citrus production, HORT/2019/165, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (Australia, Canberra) - ACIAR
Organisation Unit: Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; School of Health - Nutrition & Dietetics; External; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991129775202621
Output Type: Journal article

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Web Of Science research areas: Nutrition & Dietetics

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