Veganuary participants reveal the factors that encourage and discourage transition to veganism

Vegan diets have increased in popularity in recent years. They can be seen as a healthy, environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional omnivorous diet. To assess the key factors that influence Veganuary participants to convert to a vegan diet to better inform on diet change intervention methods, 184 participants (N=184) took part in two questionnaires at the beginning and end of January 2021 to examine their attitudes and beliefs towards veganism and diet, and a small sample (N=6) of participants took part in interviews alongside the questionnaires. Participants rated 75 statements on veganism, diet and social eating on a seven-point Likert scale and answered some open-ended questions about diet. A mixed-methods approach was taken for data analysis. Results showed that Vegetarian participants were more likely to go vegan in February than other participants. Twelve themes were identified from the questionnaire by factor analysis. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that four of those themes significantly predicted conversion to a vegan diet. These themes were: ‘Meat is healthy’ (B= -0.175,