OAKLAND, Calif., May 21, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Tailored e-mails sent to
employees at work helped them improve their diet and get more exercise, a U.S.
researcher says.
"The takeaway message here for people who want to improve their diet and
physical activity, and for employers who want a healthier workforce, is that
e-mail intervention programs are a very cost-effective way to get healthy,"
study lead investigator Barbara Sternfeld of the Kaiser Permanente Division of
Research said in a statement.
"A tailored e-mail program includes all the things that behavioral scientists
have said for years about changing behavior -- small goals tailored for the
individual, reinforcement and tracking but delivered in a mass, cost-effective
way."
The 16-week, randomized controlled trial of the ALIVE -- A Lifestyle
Intervention Via E-mail -- program was conducted at the work sites of 787 Kaiser
Permanente employees in Northern California -- 436 of whom were controls. The
rest received weekly e-mails suggesting small, individually tailored goals --
such as eating fruit three times a week at lunch or taking a 10-minute walk.
The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found the
employees who were not regularly active before the program but received the
intervention increased physical activities by almost an hour a week and these
changes had a lasting effect four months after the intervention ended.
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