Many healthy lifestyle interventions have been developed to help people change their activity and diet, lose weight and thus reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and cardiovascular disorders (CVD). However, these interventions often fail to engage their target audience, which undermines their effectiveness in changing behaviour and health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a self-directed, website-based intervention to promote physical activity and healthy dietary behaviours. The intervention frames health information from a novel perspective, which our previous work has indicated can help to promote interest in the health information and improve attitudes, self-efficacy and motivation towards physical activity and healthy dietary behaviours. The intervention comprises a website of information resources and personal recording areas to set goals and monitor activity and diet, weekly emails and pedometers. In this trial we aim to see whether the intervention has any impact on people's physical activity and diet, as well as their risk of developing CVD and T2DM. The intervention will be compared with a control condition in which participants will be shown standard resources available on NHS websites. Overweight/obese (BMI 25 - 39.5) males and females aged 35-74 years will be recruited from the community. The active intervention will last 6 weeks (during this period participants will receive weekly emails from the research team) and there will be a 6-week follow-up phase (in which participants will still have access to the website but contact from the research team). Activity, diet, disease risk markers and psychological antecedents of behaviour will be assessed at baseline, post-intervention (6-weeks) and post follow-up (12- weeks).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
59
Self-directed, website-based intervention delivered with a pedometer to promote understanding of health and health behaviour change.
Standard, publicly available NHS resources for healthy lifestyles.
University of Bath
Bath, United Kingdom
Change in mean daily physical activity level (PAL)
Mean daily physical activity level (PAL) will be assessed using accelerometers (BodyMedia, worn on the upper arm), worn for a continuous 7-day period, being removed during this time only for water-based activities such as showering or swimming. The accelerometers gather minute by minute total energy expenditure (TEE) data, which will be used to calculate PAL (PAL = TEE/BMR, where BMR = basal metabolic rate, to be calculated using the Schofield equation).
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Change in mean daily energy intake (EI)
Mean daily energy intake (EI) will be assessed using 3-day weighed food diaries, incorporating 2 week days and 1 weekend day .
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Fasting plasma glucose concentration
Comparison of glucose concentration in the blood plasma at rest across all three measurement points.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Fasting plasma insulin concentration
Comparison of insulin concentration in the blood plasma at rest across all three measurement points.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Fasting triglyceride concentration
Comparison of triglyceride concentration in the blood serum at rest across all three measurement points.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Fasting total cholesterol concentration
Comparison of total concentration in the blood serum at rest across all three measurement points.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Fasting LDL cholesterol concentration
Comparison of LDL concentration in the blood serum at rest across all three measurement points.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Fasting HDL cholesterol concentration
Comparison of HDL concentration in the blood serum at rest across all three measurement points.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration
Comparison of CRP concentration in the blood serum at rest across all three measurement points.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Body mass index (BMI)
Comparison of BMI (defined as mass in kg divided by height in metres squared) across all three measurement points.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Waist circumference
Comparison of waist circumference (in centimetres) across all three measurement points.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Blood pressure
Comparison of blood pressure (systolic/diastolic mmHG) across all three measurement points.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Quality of diet
Diet quality will be assessed based on the proportion of fibre, free sugars and refined carbohydrates, and saturated fats in the diet. The intervention aims to promote an increase in fibre intake and decrease in free sugar, refined carbohydrate and saturated fat intake. Data will be collected using 3-day weighed food diaries, incorporating 2 week days and 1 weekend day.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Motivation for physical activity
Motivation will be assessed using the Behavioural Regulation for Exercise Questionnaire 3 (BREQ 3: Markland \& Tobin, 2004; Wilson, Rodgers, Loitz \& Scime, 2006) adapted for physical activity.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Motivation for healthy eating
Motivation will be assessed using the Behavioural Regulation for Exercise Questionnaire 3 (BREQ 3: Markland \& Tobin, 2004; Wilson, Rodgers, Loitz \& Scime, 2006) adapted for diet.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Self-efficacy for physical activity and healthy eating
Self-efficacy will be measured using the Barriers Self-Efficacy Scale for Exercise (BARSE; McAuley, 1992) adapted for physical activity.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
Self-efficacy for healthy eating
Self-efficacy will be measured using the self-efficacy scale for eating a healthy diet developed by Pawlak and Colby (2009).
Time frame: Baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks after starting the intervention/control period
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