Study of the effectiveness of a health-risk reduction program

A program titled Contemporary Concerns about Food and Health (CCFH) was developed by the Florida Cooperative Extension Service after research in five counties showed 30%-74% of 2,308 middle-aged citizens to have three or more characteristics that placed them at above-average risk for developing diseases such as cardiovascular disease, adult-onset diabetes, and cirrhosis. CCFH addressed the effects of dietary and other practices that contribute to such lifestyle-related diseases. This article describes the test of the effectiveness of this program in increasing participant knowledge about the causes and preventions of health risk and in motivating them to make healthful risk-reducing changes in their lifestyles. A comparison, four-group, quasi-experimental design was used to study the program in five counties. The four groups included (a) those who participated only in CCFH lessons; (b) lesson participants who had also completed a computerized healthrisk profile; (c) a random sample of persons who completed only the health profile; and (d) a control group randomly selected to match both groups of lesson participants closely in age, sex, race, and county of residence. Results showed that lesson participants knew the answers to a significantly greater number of knowledge items than did the comparison groups, and they reported making more, and more important, changes in their lifestyles for reducing their risks of developing health problems.