Efficacy of an E-mail Intervention for the Promotion of Physical Activity and Nutrition Behavior in the Workplace Context

Abstract:

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a 12-week workplace e-mail intervention
designed to promote physical activity and nutrition behavior.
Design. A pre- and post-test design was conducted to compare the effects of e-mail messages
between intervention and control groups.
Setting. Five large workplaces in Alberta, Canada.
Subjects. Employees with access to a personal e-mail address (N 5 2121) were randomly
assigned to an intervention (n 5 1566) or a control group (n 5 555).
Intervention. Physical activity and nutrition messages were based on social-cognitive
theories. The intervention group received one physical activity and one parallel nutrition
message per week for 12 weeks. The control group received no weekly messages.
Measures. Each participant completed self-report measures of physical activity and nutrition
related to knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors 1 week before (time 1) and 1 week
after (time 2) the intervention.
Results. The intervention group was more efficacious at time 2 on measures of selfefficacy,
pros, cons, intentions, and behavior related to physical activity. This group also
reported more favorable changes in practicing healthy eating, balancing food intake with
activity level, cooking meals with techniques to reduce fat, and avoiding eating high-fat
foods. Effect sizes for all significant differences were small.
Conclusion. E-mail is a promising mode of delivery for promoting physical activity and
nutrition in the workplace. Further theoretically driven studies are needed.(Am J Health
Promot 2005;19[6]:422–429.)

My Opinion:

This study was to access the efficacy of e-mail intervention to promote physical activity in workplace. E-mail–based questionnaires were administered 1 week before (time 1) and 1 week after (time 2) intervention. The intervention group received a weekly combined physical activity and nutrition message to their e-mail address between September and November 2002 (i.e., a total of 12 physical activity and 12 nutrition paired messages). from the results obtained the participants in the intervention group were more confident in overcoming physical activity barriers and reported increased perceived benefits (pros) and decreased perceived barriers (cons) related to physical activity participation at time 2. Furthermore, this group had higher intentions to participate in physical activity in the next 3 months in comparison with the control group at time 2.

E-mail intervention has advantages in which it can reach a large number of people and can provide immediate feedback to the participants. Furthermore, it is cost-effective. However, there are also some disadvantages in using this intervention to promote physical activity in workplace,for example limited quality in presentation which is not attractive to the receiver. Besides that, it would be a problem for people with limited computer literacy especially in older population. So, this kind of intervention may not suitable to be implement in older group population. Although workers can access it easily during working hours, due to busy working hours the workers may not really receptive to the information compared to when they receive it during leisure time.

In conclusion, e-mail intervention is a promising method in promoting physical activity in workplace. Although there are some disadvantages,it can becomes better with increasing message frequency and extended time of intervention.

References:

1. http://ajhpcontents.org/doi/abs/10.4278/0890-1171-19.6.422?journalCode=hepr