En la última década, las intenciones de implementación han resultado ser estrategias eficaces de autorregulación en multitud de estudios (Gollwitzer y Sheeran, 2006). En este artículo revisaremos su eficacia en el campo de la Salud. Así, las intenciones de implementación han sido útiles en la promoción de conductas saludables (por ejemplo, facilitación de pautas de dieta sana o realización de ejercicio físico), el seguimiento de metas no placenteras (auto-exploraciones o mediciones del nivel de glucosa en sangre, por ejemplo), en la facilitación del control de situaciones y circunstancias indeseadas, así como de las acciones encaminadas hacia una meta en aquellas poblaciones críticas (esquizofrénicos, niños con trastorno por déficit de atención con hiperactividad, etc.) que tienen dificultades en el control de la acción. Que la efectividad de las intenciones de implementación no está además acompañada de rigidez y no produce efectos de rebote avala la importancia de esta estrategia de autorregulación. Se discuten las limitaciones de las intenciones de implementación, así como futuras intervenciones mediante esta estrategia.
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