Maintenance of activity and eating change after a clinical trial of tailored newsletters with older rural women.

Background: In the Wellness for Women Project, a randomized-by-site 1-year controlled clinical trial, the efficacy of generic newsletters and newsletters tailored on Health Promotion Model behavior-specific cognitions, eating behavior, and activity behavior were compared among 225 women aged 50 to 69 years.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the maintenance of change in healthy eating and physical activity over the 12 months following the tailored versus generic mailed newsletter intervention.

Methods: Outcomes at 18 and 24 months included behavioral markers and biomarkers of physical activity and eating. Data were analyzed using the multivariate approach to repeated measures analysis of variance and generalized estimating equations (alpha <.05).

Results: At 18 months, the tailored group maintained levels of all eating and activity behaviors, whereas the generic group maintained levels of fruit and vegetable servings, a moderate or greater activity, stretching exercise, lower body strength and flexibility but increased saturated fat intake and declined in weekly strength exercise and cardiorespiratory fitness. At 24 months, both groups maintained or returned to 12-month levels of all eating behaviors,moderate or greater activity, stretching exercise, and flexibility but declined in cardiorespiratory fitness; the tailored group maintained levels of strength exercise and lower body strength, whereas the generic group decreased in both. A greater proportion of women who received tailored newsletters continued to achieve most Healthy People 2010 criteria for eating and activity.

Discussion: Mailed tailored print newsletters were more efficacious than generic newsletters in facilitating maintenance of change in eating and activity for 6 months postintervention. Both tailored and generic newsletters facilitated the maintenance of change in eating behaviors and in moderate or greater physical activity and stretching exercise, whereas tailored newsletters were more efficacious in maintaining change in strength exercise for 12 months postintervention.