Are simultaneously delivered health behavior change interventions the way of the future? : a comment on King et al.

Invited Commentary

Challenges and opportunities for e- and m-health-based behaviour change interventions

In 1993, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) made the World Wide Web freely available to the public. By the year 2000, already over 400 million people were connected, and this is also the time researchers started to think about how the Internet could be used to improve health behaviours.1,2 With the Internet being so novel and unknown, it is not surprising that the first trials were not very effective.3 Back then it was thought that building basic websites that provided health behaviour information would be sufficient to improve health behaviours. Unfortunately, it is not that simple and we now know that the most effective web-based interventions provide a high degree of interactivity (e.g. setting goals, self-monitoring, action planning, social interaction)

A journal dedicated to studying the combined effects of activity, sedentary and sleep behaviours

Editorial introducing the new Journal of Activity, Sedentary and Sleep Behaviours

Stapsgewijs naar een bewegingsbeleid op het werk = [Step by step guide for a physical activity policy at the workplace]

Als werknemers voldoende bewegen tijdens en buiten de werkuren levert dat voordelen op, zowel voor henzelf als voor het bedrijf. Bewegings programma's die onderdeel zijn van het bedrijfsbeleid kunnen zowel de productiviteit als de arbeidstevredenheid mee verbeteren en dragen bij tot een positief bedrijfsimago. Een bewegingsbeleid omvat drie componenten: acties om te informeren en te sensibiliseren, beleidsrichtlijnen die voldoende beweging ondersteunen en activiteiten die het bewegingsaanbod verhogen. In deze publicatie vinden alle bedrijven en organisaties, ongeacht hun grootte, sector, cultuur of arbeidssysteem, handvatten om in zeven stappen een bewegingsbeleid te ontwikkelen, in te voeren, te evalueren en op te volgen. Bij elke stap horen bijlagen: kant-en-klare instrumenten zoals vragenlijsten, vergaderagenda's, checklisten, ...Dit boek verschijnt in de reeks Gezondheidsbevordering op het werk. Meer en meer bedrijven en organisaties zijn er zich van bewust dat de gezondheid en het welzijn van hun personeel een grote weerslag heeft op de werking van hun bedrijf of organisatie. Met deze reeks publicaties willen de initiatiefnemers, het Vlaams Instituut voor Gezondheidspromotie, de Stichting tegen Kanker en Prevent, geschikt materiaal aanbieden om de gezondheid van de werknemers te ondersteunen en bevorderen. Daarbij wordt naast het fysische aspect ook ruimschoots aandacht geschonken aan het mentaal en sociaal welbevinden.Deze publicaties zijn bedoeld voor zowel directies als HRmanagers, interne diensten voor preventie en bescherming op het werk, arbeidsgeneesheren, vakbondsafgevaardigden, ... en ook voor externe diensten voor preventie, welzijns- en gezondheidsorganisaties.. If employees are physically active in- and outside work hours this will generate benefits, for themselves as well as for their employer. Physical activity programs that are well integrated into the worksite can increase productivity, job satisfaction and the corporate image. A physical activity policy entails three components: education, guidelines and opportunity. This publication provides companies of any size, sector and culture with seven steps to develop, implement and evaluate a physical activity policy at the workplace. For each step tools, such as surveys, checklists, agendas are provided. This book is part of a series to improve health in the workpace. More and more employers are aware that health and well-being have a large impact on how their company is operating and the profits it might generate. In this publication the Flemish Institute for Health Promotion and the Cancer Foundation, want to provide suitable materials to support the health of employees. This publication is aimed at management, occupational safety officers and human resources staff

Fit4Two [Website]

Fit4Two is an online computer-tailored program designed to improve the lifestyle behaviours of Australian pregnant wome

Qualitative and quantitative research into the development and feasibility of a video-tailored physical activity intervention

Background: Continued low adherence to physical activity recommendations illustrates the need to refine intervention strategies and increase their effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to conduct formative research related to the development of a next generation of computer-tailored interventions that use online tailored video-messages to increase physical activity. Methods: Five focus groups (n = 30), aimed at males and females, aged between 35 and 60 years, that do not meet the physical activity recommendation, were conducted to allow in-depth discussion of various elements related to the development of an online video-tailored intervention. In addition, a series of questions were delivered to a random sample (n = 1261) of Australians, using CATI survey technology, to gain more information and add a quantitative assessment of feasibility related to the development of the intervention. Focus group data was transcribed, and summarised using Nvivo software. Descriptive and frequency data of the survey was obtained using SPSS 18.0. Results: Nearly all of the focus group participants supported the concept of a video-tailored intervention and 35.8% of survey participants indicated that they would prefer a video-based over a text-based intervention. Participants with a slow internet-connection displayed a lower preference for video-based advice (31.9%); however less than 20% of the survey sample indicated that downloading videos would be slow. The majority of focus group and survey participants did not support the idea of using mobile phones to receive this kind of intervention and indicated that video-tailored messages should be shorter than 5 minutes. Video-delivery of content is very rich in information, which increases the challenge to appropriately tailor content to participant characteristics; focus group outcomes indicated a large diversity in participant preferences. 52.4% of survey participants indicated that the videos should be convincing and motivating. Conclusions: These results provide valuable information to develop an innovative video-tailored physical activity intervention. The results support the feasibility of such intervention, both in terms of users being ready to participate in it, as well as from a point of view whereby current internet infrastructure is able to cope with thedemands of downloading videos. Though promising, a number of specific challenges in the development of these interventions were identified (e.g. the videos need to be short, made professionally, and tailor to a larger number of variables) and will need to be overcome in the development and evaluation of this new type of physical activity intervention

From evidence-based research to practice-based evidence: Effort, cost and uptake of disseminating a web-based computer-tailored workplace sitting intervention through a health promotion organisation

Prolonged sitting may result in adverse health outcomes; therefore, we developed and examined a web-based computer-tailored workplace sitting intervention. As this intervention has shown to be effective, the next stage was to conduct a dissemination study. As such, this study reports on the dissemination efforts of a health promotion organisation, associated costs, reach achieved, and attributes of the website users

Acceptability and feasibility of a computer-tailored physical activity intervention using stages of change : project FAITH

This study investigated the feasibility and acceptability of a new computer-tailored intervention promoting physical activity in a general population, and explored if there are differences in the reported feasibility and acceptability between stages of change, gender, age groups, education levels and familiarity with computeruse. The computer-tailored intervention program consists of questionnaires concerning demographics, physical activity and psychosocial determinants, leading to a ‘physical activityadvice’ and an ‘action plan’. This feedback was constructed taking the stages of change into account, at content level as well as in the way participants were approached. One hundred and ninety-two participants, between 25 and 55 years of age, ran through the tailored materials, and completed an acceptability and feasibilityquestionnaire afterwards. This questionnaire contained feasibility and acceptability questions about all the intervention aspects: intervention questions, physical activity advice, action plan and computer use. High acceptability and feasibility scores were found for all intervention parts. Only a few significant differences inacceptability and feasibility scores between stages of change, gender, age groups, education levels and familiarity with computer use were found. These results suggest that this computer-tailored intervention is an acceptable and feasible tool for promoting physical activity for respondents having different stages of change,ages, gender, education levels and computer use

The effectiveness of a web-based computer-tailored intervention on workplace sitting: A randomized controlled trial

Effective interventions to influence workplace sitting are needed, as office-based workers demonstrate high levels of continued sitting, and sitting too much is associated with adverse health effects. Therefore, we developed a theory-driven, Web-based, interactive, computer-tailored intervention aimed at reducing and interrupting sitting at work. Objective: The objective of our study was to investigate the effects of this intervention on objectively measured sitting time, standing time, and breaks from sitting, as well as self-reported context-specific sitting among Flemish employees in a field-based approach. Methods: Employees (n=213) participated in a 3-group randomized controlled trial that assessed outcomes at baseline, 1-month follow-up, and 3-month follow-up through self-reports. A subsample (n=122) were willing to wear an activity monitor (activPAL) from Monday to Friday. The tailored group received an automated Web-based, computer-tailored intervention including personalized feedback and tips on how to reduce or interrupt workplace sitting. The generic group received an automated Web-based generic advice with tips. The control group was a wait-list control condition, initially receiving no intervention. Intervention effects were tested with repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance. Results: The tailored intervention was successful in decreasing self-reported total workday sitting (time × group: P<.001), sitting at work (time × group: P<.001), and leisure time sitting (time × group: P=.03), and in increasing objectively measured breaks at work (time × group: P=.07); this was not the case in the other conditions. The changes in self-reported total nonworkday sitting, sitting during transport, television viewing, and personal computer use, objectively measured total sitting time, and sitting and standing time at work did not differ between conditions. Conclusions: Our results point out the significance of computer tailoring for sedentary behavior and its potential use in public health promotion, as the effects of the tailored condition were superior to the generic and control conditions

Why we need more than just randomized controlled trials to establish the effectiveness of online social networks for health behavior change

Despite their popularity and potential to promote health in large populations, the effectiveness of online social networks (e.g., Facebook) to improve health behaviors has been somewhat disappointing. Most of the research examining the effectiveness of such interventions has used randomized controlled trials (RCTs). It is asserted that the modest outcomes may be due to characteristics specific to both online social networks and RCTs. The highly controlled nature of RCTs stifles the dynamic nature of online social networks. Alternative and ecologically valid research designs that evaluate online social networks in real-life conditions are needed to advance the science in this area