Genetic nutrition programmes – disappointment or empowered health? Exploring consumer engagement to understand social health change

Purpose This research aims to gain insight into how consumers interact with a commercially available genetic nutrition programme, DNAfit, to explore health change via an intervention. Design/methodology/approach Focus groups were conducted between June and October 2019, pre-, during- and post-intervention, with a total sample of 14 younger (aged 25–44 years) and 14 mature (aged 45–65 years) cohorts from New Zealand. Qualitative thematic analysis was completed with the help of NVivo software. Findings Younger participants in this study engaged less overall with DNAfit, felt the service did not match their lifestyles and did not encourage their believability of genetic personalised nutrition (GPN). In contrast, mature participants had positive engagement with GPN, as their motivation to use the service fit with their motivation for longevity. Overall, social uptake in health changes based on GPN is likely to depend on life stage. Originality/value This paper adds to limited social marketing research, which seeks novel avenues to explore how consumers engage with GPN technologies to drive social change, assisting social marketers on how to more effectively deliver health programmes that allow consumer-driven interaction to build health capabilities.