Participants at Norwegian Healthy Life Centres: Who are they, why do they attend and how are they motivated? A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Participants were predominantly obese, physically active, female and motivated for change. A high proportion had low educational attainment and low incomes. The trial will reveal whether interventions succeed in increasing physical activity further, or in decreasing sedentary behaviour, and whether health inequalities narrow or widen across groups.

Health-related quality of life and intensity-specific physical activity in high-risk adults attending a behavior change service within primary care

“…The Norwegian HLCs target high-risk individuals with low PA level [27]. Previous studies of Norwegian HLC’s have found that the HLCs recruited individuals with high PA level compared to the general Norwegian population [29, 31]. Contradictory to these findings, the present study suggest that the HLCs reach physically inactive individuals.…”

“…One of the strengths of the current study is the relatively large sample of high-risk individuals from a wide range of HLCs in four regions in Norway. Thus, we believe this is a more representative sample of Norwegian HLC participants compared to the smaller samples included in previous studies [29–31]. Other important strengths are the adjustments for several confounders in the association analysis, the use of objective PA assessments, and a widely used, multidimensional generic HRQoL instrument, both being the same measurement methods used in previous large population surveys [24, 33].…”

“…Our results indicating that the HLCs reach a high-risk group is essential, as previous studies have found that behavior change counseling within primary care is effective in improving health and increasing PA level when reaching high-risk individuals [48, 49], contradictory to conflicting results when targeting a healthy population without any risk factors [50]. The conflicting results in terms of HLC participants’ PA level could possibly be attributed to smaller samples in the previous studies, or that they used self-reported PA [31], a different accelerometer device, or different data processing methods to classify the participants’ PA levels [29]. PA level and SED in the current study was measured with the same device, and by using the same data processing criteria, as the Norwegian surveillance system for PA [24].…”

“…Although 60% of municipalities in Norway have established HLCs [28], knowledge about whom these centers reach is limited. Previous studies of HLCs included small samples and used assessment methods that hamper comparison with the general population’s PA level and HRQoL [29–31]. Large-sampled studies that use objective instruments to assess PA and SED and multi-dimensional instruments to assess HRQoL are lacking.…”

Health-related quality of life and physical activity level after a behavior change program at Norwegian healthy life centers: a 15-month follow-up

“…Although previous controlled clinical trials of PA interventions have shown positive effects among healthy populations [ 56 ] and groups with specific conditions [ 57 , 58 ], implementing such programs into a real-life setting is challenging, and the knowledge about effective interventions within primary care to achieve long-term effects among high-risk groups remains unclear [ 12 , 59 ]. The HLC population comprises a heterogeneous group with multiple health challenges [ 22 , 50 , 51 , 60 ]. Although group-based interventions enhancing social support have been found effective to promote PA [ 61 ], tailoring group-based programs to suit all groups’ requirements is demanding [ 49 ].…”