ASPO Abstracts
Dietary and Physical Activity Changes in Young Men Following a Self-Guided Lifestyle Intervention: The ACTIVATE Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
Category: Lifestyles Behavior, Energy Balance & Chemoprevention
Conference Year: 2023
Abstract Body:
Purpose of the Study We recently showed a self-guided lifestyle intervention (ACTIVATE), integrating male-targeted health risk messaging, can produce modest weight loss among young men. The study objective was to examine whether improvements in diet quality and physical activity were observed. Methods Participants were 35 young men 18-35 years (Age=29.3, 4.27; BMI=30.8, 4.26). Men were randomly assigned to either a 12-week ACTIVATE self-guided intervention arm or a delayed treatment control arm. The intervention included 1 virtual group kick-off session, digital tools (wireless scale, self-monitoring app), access to self-paced content (diet, physical activity, behavioral strategies) via a secure website, and 12 weekly texts to reinforce health risk messaging. Assessments occurred at 0 and 12 weeks. Outcomes of interest included cups of fruit and vegetable (f/v) consumption (NCI Dietary Screening Questionnaire) and weekly minutes of physical activity (Global Physical Activity Questionnaire). Independent t-tests were used to compare group differences on outcome variables (significance level=.05). Results Men in the ACTIVATE intervention had higher increase in f/v intake compared to the control (+1.5 [SD=2.5] vs. -0.72 [SD=1.9]; p=.012). Men in the intervention reduced weekly sedentary minutes by -57.9 (SD=110.7) compared to the control arm -9.4 ([SD=121.8]; p=.266, Cohen's d=.42). No significant group differences were observed for change in moderate-to-vigorous activity (-5.4 [SD=139.7] vs. -6.4 [SD=193.8]; p=.407, Cohen's d=.005), vigorous activity (+7.7 [SD=126.5] vs. +9.5 [SD=82.6]; p=.685, Cohen's d=.017), or total activity (+27.1 [SD=199.6] vs. +32.8 [SD=210.6]; p=.913, Cohen's d=.027). Conclusions A primarily self-guided lifestyle intervention increased self-reported f/v consumption, but improvements in physical activity were modest. A self-guided lifestyle intervention could be a low-cost and scalable approach, but more testing is needed to further understand ways to enhance physical activity among young men.
Keywords: Diet, Physical Activity, Lifestyle Intervention, Men, Digital Health