The Activity Counseling Trial (ACT)
Objectives:
To compare the effects of 2 physical activity
counseling interventions with current recommended care and with each other in a
primary care setting.
Background:
Physical activity is important for health, yet few
studies have examined the effectiveness of physical activity patient counseling
in primary care. Although the US adult averages 3 physician visits a year,
physical activity counseling is not routinely provided except to high risk
patients or those with a known disease.
Subjects:
Eligible subjects included patients of physicians,
physician assistants or nurse practitioners of 11 primary care facilities
affliated with 3 clinical centers (California, Texas and Tennessee). After
three screening visits, a sample of 395 female and 479 male inactive primary
care patients aged 35 to 75 years without clinical cardiovascular disease were
randomized to 3 groups: advice (control), assistance and counseling. The advice
group received physician advice based on national recommendations, the
assistance group received the same advice and educational materials plus a
30-40 minute counseling session, and the counseling group received the same
intervention as the assistance group plus telephone based counseling at
selected intervals. The primary outcomes were cardiorespiratory fitness as
measured by V02Max and self-reported physical activity.
Conclusions:
Two patient counseling interventions differing in type
and number of contacts were equally effective in women in improving
cardiorespiratory fitness over 2 years compared with recommended care. In men,
neither of the 2 counseling interventions was more effective than recommended
care (JAMA 2001; 286(6):677-687).
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Study Website |
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Study Documentation |
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Data Distribution Agreement |
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