Release Date: June 30, 2005
E-MAILS
SHOW PROMISE IN PROMOTING HEALTHIER BEHAVIOR
By David Crosson, Contributing Writer
Health Behavior News Service
A steady diet of e-mails
can change people’s outlook and behavior
regarding healthier eating and increased physical activity, according
to a new study of 2,598 Canadian workers.
Appearing in the July/August issue of the American Journal of Health
Promotion, the 12-week study looked at the effectiveness of e-mails
received at the workplace in promoting healthy exercise and eating
regimes.
The research team, led by Ronald Plotnikoff, Ph.D., and Linda J. McCargar,
Ph.D, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, divided participants
into an intervention group that received health-related e-mails and
a control group that did not.
The intervention group alone
showed an increase in physical activity levels and also had more
confidence in being able to participate in
physical activity at study’s end. In addition, the intervention
group members recognized more pros and fewer cons to physical activity
and were more open to making dietary changes.
In fact, the intervention group actually reduced, although marginally,
its mean body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat based on height
and weight, over the course of the study. By contrast, the mean BMI
for the control group slightly increased.
“E-mail deliveries of health promotion messages can have small
yet beneficial effects on health behaviors over a short time frame,” the
researchers say, extolling e-mail’s unobtrusiveness, cost-effectiveness
and practical appeal.
In the study, workers received weekly e-mail messages, each highlighting
the worth of physical activity and good nutrition while also offering
suggestions on how to achieve a healthier lifestyle.
Before and after the e-mail delivery period, both groups responded
to e-mail questionnaires on their knowledge of, their attitudes toward
and their behaviors regarding exercise and nutrition.
While the researchers concede
the effects of the study’s e-mails
on the intervention group are small, they nevertheless conclude that “e-mail
is a promising mode of delivery for promoting physical activity and
nutrition in the workplace.”
They add that more aesthetically pleasing e-mails, used more frequently,
could be more persuasive than the plain text messages used in the study.
The study “must be viewed with caution since the changes reported
are based on self-report and the effect sizes are generally small,” according
to Jennifer B. McClure, Ph.D, a scientific investigator with the Group
Health Cooperative in Seattle. Nevertheless, she says, “The findings
are encouraging and they add to other recent data which suggest that
using e-mail to deliver well-designed communications could be an effective
way to encourage and promote health behaviors."
The study, which had the
cooperation of three government agencies and two private sector organizations,
was prompted by the researchers’ concern
over the growing prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Healthy exercise together
with a balanced diet is viewed as key to the prevention of type 2 diabetes.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Health Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or www.hbns.org.
Center for the Advancement of Health
Contact: Ira R. Allen
Vice President of Public Affairs
202.387.2829
press@cfah.org
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