Title : Effects of a blended face-to-face and ehealth lifestyle intervention on physical activity, diet, and health outcomes in Hong Kong Community-dwelling older adults: A randomized controlled trial
Abstract:
Background: Aging people are vulnerable population suffering from various Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), while sufficient physical activity (PA) and healthy diet are closely related to decreasing the risk of suffering from NCDs. The blended approach combining the face-to-face and eHealth interventions might optimize the intervention effects on lifestyle behaviors initiation and maintenance. This study aimed to apply blended intervention to promote PA, diet, and health outcomes among Hong Kong community-dwelling older adults.
Method: This study adopted a 10-week three-arm randomized controlled trial, comprising a face-to-face and eHealth blended intervention group, a stand-alone face-to-face intervention group, and a control group. The participants in blended intervention group received (1) one 60-minute face-to-face session for PA and one 60-minute face-to-face session for diet per week; (2) a web-based behavior change promotion intervention with one session for PA and one session for diet in each week. The participants in face-to-face intervention group received the same face-to-face sessions in blended group. A control condition received biweekly telephone call. The outcome variables included moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA; minutes/week), fruit and vegetable intake (FVI; portions/day), meat, fish, egg, and alternatives (MFEA; taels/day), social-cognitive factors of behavior change (self-efficacy, plan, social support, action control), physical health outcomes (blood pressure, glycosylated hemoglobin, lipid, physical fitness), mental health outcomes (depression, loneliness) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Data collection was implemented at pre-test, post-test after the 10-week intervention, 3-month follow-up test. Generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) was applied for data analysis.
Result: The intervention finding revealed that there were significant interaction effects (time x group) on diet behavior (FVI and MFEA), PA self-efficacy, PA plan, PA action control, MFEA action control, and lower body strength. No significant interaction effect (time x group) was found on MVPA, social-cognitive factors (except PA self-efficacy, PA plan, PA action control, MFEA action control), physical health outcomes (except lower body strength), mental health outcomes (depression and loneliness), and HRQoL.
Conclusion: The findings demonstrated that the blended lifestyle intervention can make some promotions on lifestyle behavior changes and health outcomes.
Keywords: physical activity, diet, blended intervention, older adults, health promotion
Audience Take Away Notes:
- New insight of how to deal with the health problems of the elderly in an aging population
- Innovative intervention strategy combining face-to-face and eHealth among the elderly
- The combination of electronic technology and elderly health
