There was no evidence for a relationship between intervention effectiveness and mode of delivery or number of intervention contacts ; however , interventions which involved individually tailoring with personalized activity goals or provision of information about local opportunities in the environment may be more effective .
Conclusions Interventions in adults aged 55 to 70 years led to long term improvements in physical activity at 12 months ; however , maintenance beyond this is unclear .
Identified physical activity improvements are likely to have substantial health benefits in reducing the risk of age-related illnesses .
Background Retirement represents a major transitional life stage in middle to older age .
Changes in physical activity typically accompany this transition , which has significant consequences for health and well-being .
The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the evidence for the effect of interventions to promote physical activity in adults aged 55 to 70 years , focusing on studies that reported long-term effectiveness .
Vitalum study design: RCT evaluating the efficacy of tailored print communication and telephone motivational interviewing on multiple health behaviors
Background A large proportion of adults fail to meet public health guidelines for physical activity as well as fruit , vegetable and fat intake . Interventions are needed to improve these health behaviors . Both computer tailoring and motivational interviewing have shown themselves to be promising techniques for health behavior change . The Vitalum project aims to compare the efficacy of these techniques in improving the health behaviors of adults aged 45–70 . This paper describes the design of the Vitalum study . Methods / Design Dutch general medical practice s ( N = 23 ) were recruited via a registration network or by personal invitation . The participants were then enrolled through these general practice s using an invitational letter . They ( n = 2,881 ) received a written baseline question naire to assess health behaviors , and potential psychosocial and socio-demographic behavioral determinants . A power analysis indicated that 1,600 participants who were failing to meet the guidelines for physical activity and either fruit or vegetable consumption were needed . Eligible participants were stratified based on hypertension status and r and omized into one of four intervention groups : tailored print communication , telephone motivational interviewing , combined , and control . The first two groups either received four letters or took part in four interviews , whereas the combined group received two letters and took part in two interviews in turns at 5 , 13 , 30 and 43 weeks after returning the baseline question naire . Each letter and interview focused on physical activity or nutrition behavior . The participants also took part in a telephone survey 25 weeks after baseline to gather new information for tailoring . There were two follow-up question naires , at 47 and 73 weeks after baseline , to measure short- and long-term effects . The control group received a tailored letter after the last posttest . The process , efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the interventions will be examined by means of multilevel mixed regression , cost-effectiveness analyses and process evaluation . Discussion The Vitalum study simultaneously evaluates the efficacy of tailored print communication and telephone motivational interviewing , and their combined use for multiple behaviors and people with different motivational stages and education levels . The results can be used by policymakers to contribute to evidence -based prevention of chronic diseases . Trial Registration Dutch Trial Register
There was no evidence for a relationship between intervention effectiveness and mode of delivery or number of intervention contacts ; however , interventions which involved individually tailoring with personalized activity goals or provision of information about local opportunities in the environment may be more effective .
Conclusions Interventions in adults aged 55 to 70 years led to long term improvements in physical activity at 12 months ; however , maintenance beyond this is unclear .
Identified physical activity improvements are likely to have substantial health benefits in reducing the risk of age-related illnesses .
Background Retirement represents a major transitional life stage in middle to older age .
Changes in physical activity typically accompany this transition , which has significant consequences for health and well-being .
The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the evidence for the effect of interventions to promote physical activity in adults aged 55 to 70 years , focusing on studies that reported long-term effectiveness .