Lea Anna Lisa Dejonghe

Background: Multicomponent interventions combined with health coaching are widely recommended to improve a healthy lifestyle. The aim of the present study was to analyse the usage and acceptance of a multicomponent intervention (telephone, web and face-to-face coaching) for low back pain patients, and thereby gain an understanding of why this intervention was not as effective as expected. Methods: A secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial, aimed at promoting physical activity, was conducted. It was a cross-sectional study based on data of a multicomponent intervention group (baseline = 201 participants). For evaluating the usage and acceptance, descriptive statistics were applied. Results: Over half (n = 118) of the patients participated at least once in the telephone coaching. Approximately half of the participants (44 of 90) rated the telephone coaching as “good”. 34 of 92 (37%) participants reported of visiting the web-platform. The web-platform was comprehensible for nearly one-quarter (n = 8 of 33) and very useful for one participant. The face-to-face-contact was rated highly (range: 79.4–88.2 out of 100). Conclusion: Usage of the telephone coaching approach was moderate with even fewer participants visiting the web-platform. In addition, these approaches were not rated as very useful. The acceptance of the face-to-face contact was high. Since the usage and acceptance could influence the effectiveness, utilisation and acceptance studies might help to explain the reason for non-effective lifestyle interventions. Therefore, more studies analysing the usage and acceptance are needed. To improve the usage and acceptance, a stronger participatory orientation in the design of interventions and the integration of face-to-face contact could be helpful.

Studies show that high health literacy (HL) can support the promotion and maintenance of healthy behavior such as physical activity (PA). However, most studies rely on subjective data. The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between HL and PA, not only with subjectively but also with objectively measured PA data. The present study is a pooled analysis of baseline data from the research association TRISEARCH (2015–2018), which focused on the HL of working adults. HL was measured by Lenartz’ questionnaire, and PA by the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ; n = 1056). A subsample (n = 124) also received accelerometers (Actigraph GT3X+) to provide more objective PA data. Partial correlations and regression models were used to investigate the relationship between HL and questionnaire- and accelerometer-derived PA. Very low and medium partial correlations could be found for HL subscales and daily PA by questionnaire (r = −0.06, p < 0.05) and accelerometer (r = 0.26, p < 0.01). No subscale of HL made a significant contribution to the amount of daily PA (all p > 0.05). Not all subscales of HL seem to have an influence on the occurrence of healthy behavior, such as PA. This should be considered when HL-based interventions are designed. Further investigation of the relationship between HL and PA is needed. Objective assessments of both HL and PA can provide additional information for this task.

Background: Multicomponent interventions combined with health coaching are widely recommended to improve a healthy lifestyle. The aim of the present study was to analyse the usage and acceptance of a multicomponent intervention (telephone, web and face-to-face coaching) for low back pain patients, and thereby gain an understanding of why this intervention was not as effective as expected. Methods: A secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial, aimed at promoting physical activity, was conducted. It was a cross-sectional study based on data of a multicomponent intervention group (baseline=201 participants). For evaluating the usage and acceptance, descriptive statistics were applied. Results: Over half (n=118) of the patients participated at least once in the telephone coaching. Approximately half of the participants (44 of 90) rated the telephone coaching as "good". 34 of 92 (37%) participants reported of visiting the web-platform. The web-platform was comprehensible for nearly one-quarter (n=8 of 33) and very useful for one participant. The face-to-face-contact was rated highly (range: 79.4-88.2 out of 100). Conclusion: Usage of the telephone coaching approach was moderate with even fewer participants visiting the web-platform. In addition, these approaches were not rated as very useful. The acceptance of the face-to-face contact was high. Since the usage and acceptance could influence the effectiveness, utilisation and acceptance studies might help to explain the reason for non-effective lifestyle interventions. Therefore, more studies analysing the usage and acceptance are needed. To improve the usage and acceptance, a stronger participatory orientation in the design of interventions and the integration of face-to-face contact could be helpful.

Background: Multicomponent interventions combined with health coaching are widely recommended to improve a healthy lifestyle. The present study analysed the usage and acceptance of approaches of a multicomponent intervention (telephone, web and face-to-face coaching) for low back pain patients, with the purpose of understanding why the intervention was not as effective as expected. Methods: A secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial, aimed at promoting physical activity, was conducted. It was a cross-sectional study based on data of a multicomponent intervention group (baseline=201 participants). For evaluating the usage and acceptance, descriptive statistics were applied. Results: Over half (n=118) of the patients participated at least once in the telephone coaching. Approximately half of the participants (44 of 90) rated the telephone coaching as "good". 34 of 92 (37%) participants reported of visiting the web-platform. The web-platform was comprehensible for nearly one-quarter (n=8 of 33) and very useful for one participant. The face-to-face-contact was rated highly (range: 79.4-88.2 out of 100). Conclusion: Usage of the telephone coaching approach was moderate with even fewer participants visiting the web-platform. In addition, these approaches were not rated as very useful. The acceptance of the face-to-face contact was high. Since the usage and acceptance could influence the effectiveness, utilisation and acceptance studies might help to explain the reason for non-effective lifestyle interventions. Therefore, more studies analysing the usage and acceptance are needed. To improve the usage and acceptance, a stronger participatory orientation in the design of interventions and the integration of face-to-face contact could be helpful. Trial registration: German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS)-ID: DRKS00004878 Keywords: Usage; acceptance; promoting physical activity; health coach; face-to-face contact; telephone coaching; web based coaching

The methodology of intervention studies on physical activity (PA) promotion is of great importance regarding evidence development in complex interventions. The aim of this review was to provide an overview of the methodological quality of those studies which reported statistically significant effects of interventions promoting PA. PUBMED was searched for reviews on PA promotion to identify studies reporting effective interventions with participants of working age (16–67 years). Selected reviews were screened and data from primary studies with effective interventions were extracted to assess methodological quality. Forty-six reviews with 600 primary studies were identified, of which 33 met the inclusion criteria. Twenty-one studies were conducted as randomized controlled trials, 13 included an intervention control group, 25 measured PA by questionnaire, and 13 included objective measurements. Information on used statistics was often scarce, and long-term follow-up measurements were frequently missing. The overall methodological quality was moderate for randomized studies and low for non-randomized studies; information on methods and results was often lacking. To overcome these methodological issues, standardized guidelines for reporting study results should be considered, not only when publishing results but also when designing studies. This review provides a solid foundation for the development of practical advice for planning application-oriented studies in PA promotion.