Practicing a habitual physical activity is important for health. A Virtual Trainer (VT) online system was developed in 2006 (1st version) and improved in 2010 (2nd version) for encouraging an active lifestyle. This project intends to further improve the VT (3rd version) which incorporates more effective psychological and e-health theories, and disseminate it to Hong Kong middle-aged adults.
Hong Kong is a highly urbanized city that many people work long hours daily and over the week, especially for those middle-aged adults. The limited time and lack of professional exercise instruction are always the barriers for them to participate in physical activity (PA). With the advances in information technology (IT), the knowledge of PA can be rapidly disseminated through the Internet and smartphone. We design an IT- instruction based lifestyle intervention program, with the purpose to improve PA level and health status in a sample of middle-aged Hong Kong adults. A two-arm parallel individual level randomized controlled trial (RCT) named "Follow Your Virtual Trainer (FYVT)" will be conducted among 200 healthy and sedentary Chinese adults aged from 40 to 65 years. The participants will be randomly allocated into intervention group or control group. Those in intervention group will under the instruction of a web-based computer software termed "Virtual Trainer", which interact with their smartphone apps, to conduct a 3-month self-planned PA training program. A serious of online video seminars with healthy lifestyle themes will be released to the participants biweekly among 3 months. After that, 6 months observation will be followed. Those in control group will only receive a written advice of standard PA recommendation, and the textual content of the seminars. The assessments will be implemented at baseline, 3, 6, and 9 month. Primary outcome is PA measured by accelerometer and International Physical Activity Questionnaire; the second outcomes include cardio-respiratory fitness, resting energy expenditure, anthropometrics, body composition, blood pressure, health-related quality of life, sleep quality and quantity, fatigue, behavior mediators, and maintenance of PA.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
261
Participants in intervention group will under the instruction of a web-based computer software termed "Virtual Trainer", which interact with their smartphone apps, to conduct a 3-month self-planned PA training program. A serious of online video seminars related to healthy lifestyle advice will be released to the participants among 3 months. After that, 6 months observation will be followed.
A written advice of daily PA recommendation, and the textual content of the healthy lifestyle seminars will be provided to the participants.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Changes of physical activity level as measures by accelerometer and International Physical Activity Questionnaire
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of cardio-respiratory fitness as measured by the symptom limited maximal treadmill exercise test using the metabolic analyzer (Cosmed K4b2, Italy)
The maximal oxygen intake (VO2 max in ml•min-1•kg-1) is used as indicator of cardio-respiratory fitness in our study.
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of resting VO2 (ml•min-1•kg-1) as measured by the metabolic analyzer (Cosmed K4b2, Italy)
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of resting kilocalorie expenditure (KCal in KCal•min-1) as measured by the metabolic analyzer (Cosmed K4b2, Italy)
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of resting heart rate (HR in beats•min-1) as measured by heart rate monitor
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of body weight as measured by weighting scale
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of body mass index (BMI) as measured by the calculation of weight (kg) divided by the square of height (cm)
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
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Changes of waist circumference as measured by standardized tape measure
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of hip circumference as measured by standardized tape measure
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of body fat percentage as measured by the bioelectrical impedance analysis (Tanita, BC 581, Japan)
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of body mass as measured by the bioelectrical impedance analysis (Tanita, BC 581, Japan)
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of waist hip ratio (WHR) as measured by the calculation of dividing the waist circumference (cm) by the hip circumference (cm)
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of blood pressure as measured by the mercury sphygmomanometer
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of health-related quality of life as measured by the SF-36
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of sleep quality as measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of sleep quantity as measured by a 7-day Daily Sleep Log
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Changes of self-perceived fatigue as measured by the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS)-fatigue
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months
Maintenance of physical activity as measured a self-administered questionnaire
A self-administered questionnaire will be given to the participants at 3 and 6 months to evaluate their maintenance of physical activity.
Time frame: Measures will be done at two time points: 6 months and 9 months
Behavior mediators as measured by a self-administered questionnaire
The possible behavior mediators will be examined by a self-administered questionnaire that bases on Ajzen's guideline for developing a Theory of Planned Behavior questionnaire. We will structure these mediator variables according to attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, to understand their intention to active participation in physical activities.
Time frame: Measures will be done at four time points: baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months