None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
A major focus on weight gain prevention is urgently needed in all population groups including adults who are still within the healthy weight range as well as in those already overweight. Women are an important target group with greater prevalence of obesity, in particular abdominal obesity. Weight gain prevention has the potential to underpin and reduce the need for, intensive and costly obesity treatment programs. information alone. Women in rural communities are living with greater disadvantage, limited access to health services, and according to the longitudinal data from Women’s Health Australia, are gaining weight faster than urban dwelling women. The positive effect of the HeLP-her intervention requires confirmation in larger studies, over longer time periods, in diverse populations and settings. The proposed trial presents an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of HeLP-her in young, rural women with benefits to physical, metabolic and reproductive health. If, as appears likely, we can prevent weight gain with a simple intervention which proves to be cost effective and can be delivered easily to most women in Australia, we can make a significant contribution toward preventing the predicted upward shift in population weight and the consequences of obesity related illness. The Healthy Lifestyle Program (HeLP-her) is voluntary and participants were able to withdraw at any stage within the program. Written consent was provided by all participants and data collected was stored in a de-identified manner to ensure participant confidentiality.
Interventions
1. The intervention participants will attend a group session at a central location such as the local primary school at a specified time in each participating town. This session will take approximately 2 hours.
2. Women will have the project explained individually and baseline measures assessed
3. Following baseline assessment a health professional will deliver a group session according to the program manual on achieving a healthy lifestyle. Participants will receive a program specific manual an
1. The intervention participants will attend a group session at a central location such as the local primary school at a specified time in each participating town. This session will take approximately 2 hours. 2. Women will have the project explained individually and baseline measures assessed 3. Following baseline assessment a health professional will deliver a group session according to the program manual on achieving a healthy lifestyle. Participants will receive a program specific manual and advised on how to access program website, and asked to weigh themselves regularly. 4. During week 2-6 participants will work through the three sessions in the manual. The intervention content includes five clear healthy eating messages based on population healthy eating guidelines and simple physical activity messages to be moderately active that are delivered in a non-prescriptive format. Intervention content is underpinned by key components of the behavioural theory including skills of goal setting, action planning and self-monitoring all of which are important factors in long-term behavioural change. Each session will take participants approximately 20 minutes to complete. 5. At 16 weeks they will receive a telephone coaching session to review progress, provide encouragement and assistance and to ensure skill sessions are completed. This session will take approximately 20 minutes. On going support: Continued support is important to establish new behaviours. 1. The intervention group will receive monthly mobile phone text messages (SMS) throughout the intervention until week fifty-two. The content of these text messages will be simple strategies to improve physical activity such as "remember exercise 30 minutes a day" or healthy eating messages such as "a lower fat diet with lots fruit and veg is best for health and weight". The messages will also encourage self monitoring such as "Weigh yourself and make an action plan each week".
Sponsors
School Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 55 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Women of reproductive age
Exclusion criteria
1)Serious physical or psychological condition 2)Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus 3)Pregnancy or become pregnant during the study 4)Breast feeding 5)Taking weight control medications 6)Had obesity surgery 7)Malignancy
Outcome results
None listed