Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Jun 15, 2022
Date Accepted: Sep 21, 2022
Mobile digital health intervention to promote nutrition and physical activity behaviors among long-term unemployed in rural areas: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
Long-term unemployed have special health needs, which might be addressed by digital health interventions. Thus, a digital health intervention to promote nutritional and physical health behavior was conceived and the effectiveness of such in combination with face-to-face sessions will be evaluated in a randomized controlled trial.
Objective:
The aim of this study is to elucidate the effectiveness of an mobile, digital health intervention to promote the nutritional and physical activity behaviors of long-term unemployed in rural areas of Germany.
Methods:
The 9-week intervention aims to promote nutritional or physical activity behavior, respectively, by improving drinking habits, increasing the consumption of fruits/vegetables and whole grains, or by increasing daily step count, strengthening muscles and improving endurance. The intervention is implemented in a mobile application using the MobileCoach open-source platform. The effectiveness of the intervention will be elucidated by a 9-week, two-armed parallel-designed trial. Therefore, long-term unemployed will be recruited by employees of the German social sector institutions and randomized to receive either information brochures, the digital intervention in the form of a mobile application and four face-to-face sessions regarding healthy eating and physical activity (n=100) or to receive a control treatment, consisting of solely the handover of information brochures (n=100). The effectiveness of the intervention will be assessed by questionnaires at baseline, after 9-weeks of intervention and after a 3-months follow-up period.
Results:
Recruitment started in March 2022 and the final publication of the results is expected in the first half of 2023.
Conclusions:
Positive health-related changes by the intervention would display the potency of digital health interventions to promote nutritional and physical activity behavior among long-term unemployed in the rural areas of Germany. Clinical Trial: German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00024805) (registered on February 22, 2022).
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