Does fortnightly telephone based support improve adherence to home exercise programs in obese clients awaiting bariatric surgery? A randomised controlled trial.

Participants randomised to the intervention group will have fortnightly telephone based support for 12 weeks, by an Accredited Exercise Physiologist. Telephone consults will range between 5 and 15 minutes, depending on the level of engagement and will be on a previously agreed upon date between the participant and exercise physiologist. During the telephone calls adherence to their home exercise programs will be discussed. Home exercise programs will be individualised and tailored to participants' capacity but generally consist of an aerobic (walking) program as well as a progressive strengthening program to target goals set. Baseline steps per day will be used to set target goals for their walking program. Objective data will be collected from a Fitbit Charge HR(TM) which is worn on the non-dominant wrist for 24 hour periods and measures heart rate, step count and activity level i.e. number of active minutes per week which can be transferred to the particpants' smartphone and stored on their personal profile via an application. Participants will also transfer their data into their activity log book daily, which will help remind them to charge their Fitbits. Staff will have access to their profiles through the Fitbit app and be able to view data prior to the telephone consult. Activity logs will be viewed at the end of the 12 week intervention only and compared to the staff-collected data. All attempted phone calls will be logged in paper progress notes and duration of successful calls noted.