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Effect of telephone counseling on physical activity for low-active older people in primary care: a randomized,
Gregory S Kolt1, Grant M Schofield, Ngaire Kerse
1School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. g.kolt@uws.edu.au
Objectives:
To assess the long-term effectiveness of a telephone counseling intervention on physical activity and health-related quality of life in low-active older adults recruited through their primary care physician.
Design:
Randomized, controlled trial.
Setting:
Three primary care practices from different socioeconomic regions of Auckland, New Zealand.
Participants:
One hundred and eighty-six low-active adults (aged 65) recruited from their primary care physicians' patient databases.
Intervention:
Eight telephone counseling sessions over 12 weeks based on increasing physical activity. Control patients received usual care.
Measurements:
Change in physical activity (as measured using the Auckland Heart Study Physical Activity Questionnaire) and quality of life (as measured using the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36)) over a 12-month period.
Results:
Moderate leisure physical activity increased by 86.8 min/wk more in the intervention group than in the control group (P=.007). More participants in the intervention group reached 2.5 hours of moderate or vigorous leisure physical activity per week after 12 months (42% vs 23%, odds ratio=2.9, 95% confidence interval=1.33-6.32, P=.007). No differences on SF-36 measures were observed between the groups at 12 months.
Conclusion:
Telephone-based physical activity counseling is effective at increasing physical activity over 12 months in previously low-active older adults.