Tailored feedback and matched booklets may get more adults active
HelpedThe short version
Adults with tailored feedback and matched booklets exercised more each week at six months than those with standard booklets.
- 150
- adults who were not very active
- Randomised
- groups picked at random
- Self-rated
- people rated themselves
- 2 tools
- tested
The study
Who took part
194 adults who were not very active joined through newspaper ads in Providence, Rhode Island. Only 150 finished all four questionnaires, and only those are in the results. They were about 44 years old on average, and about 78 in 100 were women.
What they did
Everyone was mailed materials at the start and at one, three and six months. One group got a computer-made report on their own progress, plus a booklet matched to their stage. The other group got four standard American Heart Association booklets, one at each mailing.
What happened
At six months the tailored group averaged about 151 minutes of activity a week, against about 98 for the standard group. By six months, 44 in 100 of the tailored group met the US activity guideline, against 18 in 100. The standard group was already more active at the start. The numbers on one measure of change disagree.
What the study found
- HelpedGoals
Adults with tailored feedback and matched booklets exercised more each week at six months than those with standard booklets.
Randomised trial of 150 adults who were not very active · vs the standard booklet group · they rated themselves · ⚠ only counted people who finished; numbers unreliable
- HelpedGoals
More adults in the tailored group met the US activity guideline by six months than in the standard group.
Randomised trial of 150 adults who were not very active · vs the standard booklet group · they rated themselves · ⚠ only counted people who finished; numbers unreliable
- HelpedMotivation
By six months more adults in the tailored group had started getting active than in the standard group.
Randomised trial of 150 adults who were not very active · vs the standard booklet group · they rated themselves · ⚠ only counted people who finished; numbers unreliable
How solid is this?
- Groups picked at random
- People rated themselves
- Only counted people who finished
- Numbers unreliable
Source
Efficacy of an individualized, motivationally-tailored physical activity intervention (1998)
