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Follow Your Virtual Trainer (FYVT): a randomised controlled trial protocol of IT-based lifestyle intervention programme to promote physical activity and health among middle-aged Hong Kong Chinese.

ABSTRACT: Hong Kong is a highly urbanised city where many people work long hours. The limited time and lack of professional instruction are the typical barriers to exercise. The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of an information technology-based lifestyle intervention programme on improving physical activity (PA) level and health status in a sample of middle-aged Hong Kong adults.A two-arm parallel randomised controlled trial named 'Follow Your Virtual Trainer' will be conducted among 200 physically inactive Chinese adults aged from 40 to 65 years. Those randomly allocated to an intervention group will be under the instruction of a web-based computer software termed 'Virtual Trainer (VT)' to conduct a 3-month self-planned PA programme. A series of online seminars with healthy lifestyle information will be released to the participants biweekly for 3 months. After that, 6 months observation will follow. Those in the control group will only receive a written advice of standard PA recommendation and the textual content of the seminars. The assessments will be implemented at baseline, the 3rd, 6th and 9th months. The primary outcome is PA measured by accelerometer and International Physical Activity Questionnaire. The secondary outcomes include cardiorespiratory fitness, resting energy expenditure, anthropometrics, body composition, blood pressure, health-related quality of life, sleep quality and quantity, fatigue, behaviour mediators and maintenance of PA. The main effectiveness of the intervention will be assessed by a linear mixed model that tests the random effect of treatment on outcomes at the 3rd, 6th and 9th months.This trial has been approved by the Joint Chinese University of Hong Kong-New Territories East Cluster Clinical Research Ethics Committee (CRE 2015235). The study results will be presented at scientific conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals.NCT02553980.

SUBMITTER: Hui SS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5829583 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Follow Your Virtual Trainer (FYVT): a randomised controlled trial protocol of IT-based lifestyle intervention programme to promote physical activity and health among middle-aged Hong Kong Chinese.

Hui Stanley Sai-Chuen SS Xie Yao Jie YJ Kwok Ron Chi-Wai RC Tam Eric Wing-Cheung EW Mak Winnie Wing Sze WWS Mo Phoenix Kit-Han PK

BMJ open 20180203 2

<h4>Introduction</h4>Hong Kong is a highly urbanised city where many people work long hours. The limited time and lack of professional instruction are the typical barriers to exercise. The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of an information technology-based lifestyle intervention programme on improving physical activity (PA) level and health status in a sample of middle-aged Hong Kong adults.<h4>Methods and analysis</h4>A two-arm parallel randomised controlled trial named 'Follo ...[more]

PMID: 29431125

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Project description:IntroductionCapacity building approaches are useful in large-scale community-based health promotion interventions. However, models to guide and evaluate capacity building among social service agency staff in community settings are rare in the literature. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a 1-day (7 h) train-the-trainer (TTT) workshop for the "Enhancing Family Well-Being Project". The workshop aimed at equipping staff from different community agencies with the knowledge and skills to design, implement, and evaluate positive psychology-based interventions for their clients in Sham Shui Po, an over-crowded and low-income district in Hong Kong.MethodsThe current TTT extended and improved on our previous successful model by adding research and evaluation methods (including the Logic Model, process evaluation, and randomized controlled trial), which are important to plan and evaluate the community interventions. Evaluation of the TTT was guided by the Integrated Model of Training Evaluation and Effectiveness (IMTEE), with quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were collected from pretraining (T1), post-training (T2), and 6-month (T3) and 12-month (T4) follow-up surveys. Qualitative data were collected from four focus groups of agency staff after the intervention.ResultsNinety-three staff from 30 community agencies attended the training, and 90 completed the baseline survey. Eighty-eight, 63, and 57 staff performed the evaluations at T2, T3, and T4, respectively. Agency staff were satisfied with the TTT. Immediate enhancement of knowledge, self-efficacy, and positive attitudes toward the training content was found at T2 (Cohen's d ranged from 0.24 to 1.22, all p < 0.05). Enhancement of knowledge of all training contents persisted at T3 and T4 (Cohen's d ranged from 0.34 to 0.63, all p < 0.05). Enhancement of self-efficacy in the use of positive psychology in intervention design persisted at T3 (Cohen's d = 0.22, p = 0.04). The skills learned were utilized to plan and develop subsequent interventions. Twenty-nine interventions were successfully designed and implemented by the agency staff, and delivered to 1,586 participants. The agency staff indicated their intention to utilize the skills they had learned for other interventions (score ≥4 out of 6) and to share these skills with their colleagues. Qualitative feedbacks from 23 agency staff supported the quantitative results.ConclusionOur brief TTT was effectively delivered to a large number of agency staff and showed effects that persisted up to 12 months. Our training and evaluation models may offer a template for capacity building among social service agency staff for community brief, universal family health promotion interventions in diverse settings.

Project description:BackgroundYouth smoking continues to be a significant global public health concern. To ensure healthier lives for youths, healthcare professionals need to increase awareness among the youth of the health risks and addictive nature of smoking, strengthen their ability to resist negative peer influence and curiosity, and help those who smoked to quit. The Smoke-free Teens Programme was launched in 2012 to equip youngsters with up-to-date information about smoking and global trends in tobacco control and to encourage them to play a pioneering role in tobacco control. This paper describes the process and outcomes of this programme for youths in Hong Kong.MethodsThe Smoke-free Teens Programme contained three major components: (i) a 2-day-1-night training camp; (ii) creative activities to promote smoke-free messages in schools and the community; and (iii) an award presentation ceremony to recognize the efforts of outstanding Smoke-free Teens in establishing a smoke-free culture. All secondary school students or teenagers aged 14 to 18 years from secondary schools, youth centres and uniform groups were invited to join the programme. The outcome measures were changes in (1) knowledge about smoking hazards; (2) attitudes towards smoking, tobacco control, and smoking cessation; and (3) practices for promoting smoking cessation.ResultsA total of 856 teenagers were recruited during the study period (July 2014 to March 2017). The results showed statistically significant changes in participants' knowledge about smoking hazards, attitudes towards tobacco control, and practice for promoting smoking cessation.ConclusionsThe Smoke-free Teens Programme demonstrated effectiveness in equipping youngsters with up-to-date information about smoking and global trends in tobacco control and in encouraging them to play a pioneering role in tobacco control. The trained Smoke-free Teens not only promoted the smoke-free messages among their schoolmates, friends, and families, but also gathered community support for a smoke-free Hong Kong. The programme has been instrumental in fostering a new batch of Smoke-free Teens to advocate smoke-free culture and protect public health.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov ID NCT03291132 (retrospectively registered on September 19, 2017).

Project description:BackgroundBurnout causes personal suffering and adverse professional consequences. It is prevalent among medical students, although the relationship between burnout and lifestyle factors are understudied in Chinese medical students. Thus, this study aims to (i) estimate the prevalence of burnout among medical students in Hong Kong (HK) and (ii) delineate the relationship between burnout and various lifestyle factors.Method1,341 students were invited to complete a questionnaire from September to December 2017. Burnout was measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Lifestyle factors including drinking habit, sleep habit and quality, and exercise level were assessed by validated instruments, including Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT-C), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Godin-Shephard Leisure-Time Physical Activity (GSLTPA), respectively. Smoking status and use of self-medications were also inquired into, while demographic data was self-reported. Prevalence of burnout with confidence intervals was calculated. Difference in lifestyle and demographic data in students with or without burnout, were compared by t-test and Chi-square/Fisher's exact test. From this, all associations with significant p-value at p<0.1 were entered into the multiple logistic regression model.Results731 students (55.6%) responded to the questionnaire. Prevalence of burnout was 27.9% (95%CI: 24.6%-31.5%). Only 3 students in the whole sample smoked; and 6.6% of students drank weekly but rarely drank more than 2 drinks per week. 6.3% and 2.3% self-medicated themselves with medications to improve their sleep and concentration, respectively. Using a multiple logistic regression model, only sleep quality and exercise level were significantly associated with the presence of burnout.ConclusionAround a quarter of medical students in HK suffered from burnout. Burnout was found to be significantly associated with sleep quality and physical exercise. The study also highlighted that HK medical students lived very different lifestyles from those from other countries. More research is needed to design and establish the effectiveness of lifestyle interventional programs that enhance exercise level and sleep quality.

Dataset Information

Follow Your Virtual Trainer (FYVT): a randomised controlled trial protocol of IT-based lifestyle intervention programme to promote physical activity and health among middle-aged Hong Kong Chinese.

Publications

Follow Your Virtual Trainer (FYVT): a randomised controlled trial protocol of IT-based lifestyle intervention programme to promote physical activity and health among middle-aged Hong Kong Chinese.

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