A randomised controlled trial of three very brief interventions for physical activity in primary care

Abstract

BackgroundVery brief interventions (VBIs) for physical activity are promising, but there is uncertainty about their potential effectiveness and cost. We assessed potential efficacy, feasibility, acceptability, and cost of three VBIs in primary care, in order to select the most promising intervention for evaluation in a subsequent large-scale RCT.MethodsThree hundred and ninety four adults aged 40–74 years were randomised to a Motivational (n = 83), Pedometer (n = 74), or Combined (n = 80) intervention, delivered immediately after a preventative health check in primary care, or control (Health Check only; n = 157). Potential efficacy was measured as the probability of a positive difference between an intervention arm and the control arm in mean physical activity, measured by accelerometry at 4 weeks.ResultsFor the primary outcome the estimated effect sizes (95 % CI) relative to the Control arm for the Motivational, Pedometer and Combined arms were respectively: +20.3 (−45.0, +85.7), +23.5 (−51.3, +98.3), and −3.1 (−69.3, +63.1) counts per minute. There was a73% probability of a positive effect on physical activity for each of the Motivational and Pedometer VBIs relative to control, but only 46 % for the Combined VBI. Only the Pedometer VBI was deliverable within 5 min. All VBIs were acceptable and low cost.ConclusionsBased on the four criteria, the Pedometer VBI was selected for evaluation in a large-scale trial.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN02863077. Retrospectively registered 05/10/2012.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3684-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Reliability and validity of RT6 accelerometer with comparing different walking self-selected speeds

“…A study investigating pedometer's accuracy according to their position worn at various walking speeds showed that at all positions, pedometers generated significant errors at slow speeds and therefore cannot be used reliably to evaluate the amount of physical activity for people walking slower than 0.6 m/s (2.16 km/h, or 1.24 mph) [15]. Regardless of that, pedometers are used in many areas such as primary care [16] increasing physical activity and stress management [17,18] decreasing cardiovascular risk factors [19] and adolescents [20]. RT6 and pedometer results were not found significantly correlated in our study.…”

Cost-Effectiveness and Value of Information Analysis of Brief Interventions to Promote Physical Activity in Primary Care

“…Nevertheless, because of computational difficulties for such a complex model, we limited this to a comparison between the pedometer BIs and current practice. This was chosen because we selected a pedometer intervention as the most promising VBI for trial evaluation in our wider research program [77]. Thus, the analysis established whether or not there was an economic case for a trial of a pedometer BI.…”

Physical Activity Intervention in Primary Care and Rheumatology for the Management of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Review

“…This tool is deliverable within 5 minutes and involves a brief face‐to‐face consultation discussing the benefits of increasing PA, a goal of 10,000 steps/day, instructions in pedometer use, and a step chart to set and track daily step goals. Patients are also provided with an information booklet .…”