RAMADAN fasting interviews highlight how values, social support, and habits can sustain short-term dietary behavior change.
Why Ramadan Is a Useful Model
A qualitative case study examined what helps adults maintain a time-limited dietary shift during Ramadan fasting, a setting where many people are expected to complete a full month of fasting. Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 adults at three time points: before Ramadan, during the fasting period, and at the end of the month. Themes were identified using thematic analysis and interpreted through the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behavior (COM-B) model, which frames behavior as shaped by motivation, opportunity, and capability interacting over time.
Transferable Drivers of Dietary Behavior Change
Six overarching themes emerged: religion and spirituality, social and structural factors, physical and mental sensations, capability, food-related factors, and health and weight management. Adherence was primarily supported by Ramadan-specific drivers, including religious obligation, spiritual meaning, and collective participation.
Alongside these context-specific factors, participants described secondary drivers that may be more transferable to other dietary contexts. These included perceived capability, social support, self-regulation, and habit formation, which helped sustain the behavior through the full month even when motivation fluctuated. Rather than acting as a single “key,” these factors appeared to work together as practical supports that helped people follow through on intentions day to day.
What This Suggests for Dietary Interventions
The authors highlight that successful short-term dietary behavior change was not explained by motivation alone. Maintenance reflected a dynamic balance: motivation was reinforced by social opportunity, while capability was strengthened through coping strategies and repeated practice. In this framing, interventions may be more effective when behavioral goals are aligned with a person’s core values, social reinforcement is actively fostered, and habit development is supported through repetition.
Because Ramadan fasting is a religious, time-bound practice, the authors note that generalizability to secular or long-term programs may be limited. Even so, separating primary context-specific drivers from secondary potentially transferable drivers may help translate insights from a high-adherence setting into broader dietary behavior change support.
Reference: Chaaban N et al. Drivers and barriers of successful short-term dietary behavior change: Transferable factors from a qualitative case study of Ramadan fasting. Appetite. 2026;221:108468. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2026.108468.
