Abstract
Introduction: Despite the benefits of physical activity participation, 69% of Tasmanian's are insufficiently active. Lifestyle interventions are effective at increasing physical activity, however activity levels tend to decrease following an intervention. Telephone counselling is the gold standard for ongoing support, however can be time consuming. Remote physical activity monitors are now more accessible and allow wearers to view real-time activity data and feed information back to health professionals. The aim of the study is to compare the effect of telephone counselling and remote physical activity monitoring on ongoing activity. Method: 150 participants from the Strength2Strength (S2S) program will be recruited to participate in a 12-month follow up study. 50 participants will be randomised into each intervention; Telephone Counselling (TC), Remote Physical Activity Monitoring (RPAM) and Usual Care (UC). All participants will attend S2S with assessments pre and post then repeated at 3, 6 and 12 months. Results: 13 participants (6 female; Mean age 73±3.7yrs) have completed 3 month testing (UC=3, TC=3, RPAM=7). The S2S program showed significant improvements in physical activity and outcome measures. However a repeated measures ANOVA shows no significant difference between intervention groups across the measured time points (pre, post, 3 months). Despite this, there was a reduction in the mean increase for sit to stand (STS) and timed up and go (TUG) between the interventions groups at 3 month follow up. (STS: UCï‚54%; TCï‚38%; RPAMï‚12%. TUG: UCï‚8%; TCï‚16%; RPAM5%). Physical activity levels decreased at 3 month follow up in UC (↓48%), TC (↓20%) and RPAM (↓5%). Smaller mean decrements in physical activity and reduced increases in time to complete functional tasks in the RPAM group may indicate that this approach has the potential to improve physical activity adherence, however additional data is required. Further data will be provided by 31st January 2016.