Effects of a Walking Exercise-Focused Health Promotion Program for Middle-Aged Women in the Korean Community

We assessed the effectiveness of a walking exercise-focused health promotion program based on an information-motivation-behavioral skills model. This intervention study employed a non-equivalent control group pre-test/post-test design. We recruited 44 middle-aged women (22 per group) who visited two health check-up centers in G city of South Korea. The intervention included information (health education), personal motivation (pedometer monitoring, setting goals, and keeping an exercise log), social motivation (group discussion and support, telephone counseling), and behavioral skills (walking exercise) components. Ten sessions of this program involved three face-to-face and seven online interactions via mobile instant messaging. As primary outcomes (health behavior), physical activity level and health-promoting lifestyle were measured by standardized scales. As secondary outcomes (health status), physiological indicators by body measurements and perceived stress by a scale were produced. We used the chi-squared test, independent t-test, and Mann-Whitney U test for the analysis. After the intervention, in the experimental group, the level of physical activity (Z = -2.065, p = 0.039) and health-promoting lifestyle improved (t = 3.344, p = 0.002), and both waist circumference (t = -4.328, p < 0.001) and perceived stress (t =-3.578, p < 0.001) decreased. In conclusion, our theory-based intervention has advantages in terms of high standardization potential, high availability, and improvement of health behavior and health status. In future, this approach will be useful for devising interventions that meet the health needs of people who are concerned about quality of life in the second half of life.