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The researchers also found improvement in "presenteeism," a measure of howmuch physical or emotional problems interfere with productivity and theability to accomplish work tasks.
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"Alive! was designed to help people improve their eating habits andphysical activity," said Gladys Block, PhD, Chief Scientist of NutritionQuestand Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley, and leadauthor of the report. "We have found significant improvements in diet andphysical activity," said Block, "but those results will be reported later."
The study was published by the Journal of Medical Internet Research, andis online at http://www.jmir.org/2008/4/e43 . It is based on results of arandomized controlled trial conducted among employees of a large organization.The study found that people enrolled in the program had significantly greaterimprovement in reported health-related quality of life than people enrolled ina control group.
The study was conducted with funding from the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention, which sought to develop low-cost approaches for improving dietand physical activity.
The researchers enrolled 787 participants from among non-medical staff ofKaiser Permanente of Northern California. Participants were randomized toreceive the Alive! program immediately or after an eight-month delay. "It wasquite impressive to see that degree of participation, considering that therewas no monetary incentive and people knew they could be randomized to a groupthat would have to wait eight months," said Barbara Sternfeld, PhD, SeniorResearch Scientist at the Division of Research at Kaiser and PrincipalInvestigator of the study.
The program was conducted entirely by email. Participants in theintervention group received an individualized program over a 16-week period.Each week they were offered a list of suggested goals to work on that week,tailored to their own dietary and activity habits. "We weren't explicitlytrying to improve their quality of life," said Block. "But I suspect thatcommitting to improve their lives, and succeeding in a series of small steps,led to the quality of life changes."
Before enrolling, potential participants filled out a questionnaire ontheir diet, physical activity and quality of life, and received immediatefeedback on their diet and activity in relation to national guidelines. "Webelieve this information on their own diet and activity level contributed totheir motivation to participate," said Clifford Block, PhD, BehavioralScientist at NutritionQuest.
Alive! is available through NutritionQuest: http://www.nutritionquest.com,or 510-704-8514.
Press contact: Gladys Block, [email protected], or 510-301-2984.
About NutritionQuest:
NutritionQuest, a privately held company in Berkeley, California, providesaffordable wellness programs for employee and membership groups. The companyis also one of the nation's leading providers of assessment measures for dietand physical activity. They are the sole source of the widely used Block FoodFrequency questionnaire.
SOURCE NutritionQuest
