Changing the tide: An internet/video exercise and low-fat diet intervention with middle-school students.

Marilyn Frenn, Shelly Malin, Roger L. Brown, Yvonne Greer, Jaime Fox, Jennifer Greer, Sarah Smyczek. Applied Nursing Research, 18 , 13-21 (2005).

Target Group: Seventh grade students, both boys and girls

Program Name: N/A

Location: Mid-western USA

Study Objective:

• The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effectiveness of an eight-session health promotion/transtheoretical model Internet/video-delivered intervention to increase physical activity and reduce dietary fat among low-income, culturally diverse, seventh-grade students .

Study Design: Pre and post test design Intervention or Program:

• In the current study, an eight-session Blackboard platform-delivered Internet approach with four 2- to 3-min videos was used in seventh-grade science class.
• The intervention was conducted in a computer laboratory where each student had a computer.
• The Child and Adolescent Activity Log was used to collect the physical activity data. This 22-item daily log of activities engaged in by youth required that subjects circle the number of minutes they spent the previous day in each activity. Subjects completed the logs for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday pre- and post test.
• The focus of the intervention was on strategies appropriate for all stages of change, particularly for those in pre-contemplation and contemplation stages of the transtheoretical model.
• Computer-generated tailored feedback based on stage of change was provided to individual subjects for both physical activity and dietary fat.
  

Impact on Physical Activity:

• Intervention students who completed more than half of the sessions increased moderate/vigorous exercise by an average of 22 min, compared with a decrease of 46 min for the control group, p = .05. Those who completed all three sessions (n = 39) increased activity by 33 min.

Implications for Practitioners:

Use of computer physical activity logs with appropriate and tailored feedback can be a strong motivational tool. Support to implement physical activity changes in lifestyle may need to be ongoing to ensure continued results.

Author's Email: Marilynn Frenn marilyn.frenn@marquette.edu