title: Targeting multiple health risk behaviours among vocational education students using electronic feedback and online and telephone support: protocol for a cluster randomised trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Technical and Further Education (TAFE) colleges are the primary provider of vocational education in Australia. Most TAFE students are young adults, a period when health risk behaviours become established. Furthermore, high rates of smoking, risky alcohol consumption, inadequate fruit and vegetable intake and insufficient physical activity have been reported in TAFE students. There have been no intervention studies targeting multiple health risk behaviours simultaneously in this population. The proposed trial will examine the effectiveness of providing TAFE students with electronic feedback regarding health risk behaviours and referral to a suite of existing online and telephone services addressing smoking, risky alcohol consumption, fruit and vegetable intake, and physical activity levels.
  
  
  METHODS
  A two arm, parallel, cluster randomised trial will be conducted within TAFE campuses in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. TAFE classes will be randomly allocated to an intervention or control condition (50 classes per condition). To be eligible, students must be: enrolled in a course that runs for more than 6 months; aged 16 years or older; and not meet Australian health guideline recommendations for at least one of the following: smoking, alcohol consumption, fruit and/or vegetable intake, or physical activity. Students attending intervention classes, will undertake via a computer tablet a risk assessment for health risk behaviours, and for behaviours not meeting Australian guidelines be provided with electronic feedback about these behaviours and referral to evidence-based online programs and telephone services. Students in control classes will not receive any intervention. Primary outcome measures that will be assessed via online surveys at baseline and 6 months post-recruitment are: 1) daily tobacco smoking; 2) standard drinks of alcohol consumed per week; 3) serves of fruit consumed daily; 4) serves of vegetables consumed daily; and 5) metabolic equivalent minutes of physical activity per week.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Proactive enrolment to existing online and telephone services has the potential to address modifiable determinants of disease. This trial will be the first to examine a potentially scalable intervention targeting multiple health risk behaviours among students in the vocational training setting.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12615000105549; Registered 5/2/15.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia. Flora.Tzelepis@newcastle.edu.au.|Hunter New England Population Health, Hunter New England Area Health District, New South Wales, Australia. Flora.Tzelepis@newcastle.edu.au.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Flora.Tzelepis@newcastle.edu.au.
authors.forename: Flora
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tzelepis
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia. Chris.Paul@newcastle.edu.au.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Chris.Paul@newcastle.edu.au.
authors.forename: Christine L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia. John.Wiggers@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au.|Hunter New England Population Health, Hunter New England Area Health District, New South Wales, Australia. John.Wiggers@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. John.Wiggers@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiggers
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia. Kypros.Kypri@newcastle.edu.au.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Kypros.Kypri@newcastle.edu.au.
authors.forename: Kypros
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kypri
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia. Billie.Bonevski@newcastle.edu.au.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Billie.Bonevski@newcastle.edu.au.
authors.forename: Billie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bonevski
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia. Patrick.McElduff@newcastle.edu.au.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Patrick.McElduff@newcastle.edu.au.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McElduff
authors.affiliation: Hunter Institute of Technical and Further Education (TAFE), TAFE New South Wales, New South Wales, Australia. Maryann.Hill@tafe.nsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Mary Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Philip.Morgan@newcastle.edu.au.|School of Education, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Philip.Morgan@newcastle.edu.au.
authors.forename: Philip J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia. Marita.Lynagh@newcastle.edu.au.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Marita.Lynagh@newcastle.edu.au.
authors.forename: Marita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lynagh
authors.affiliation: Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Clare.Collins@newcastle.edu.au.|School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Clare.Collins@newcastle.edu.au.
authors.forename: Clare E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia. Clare.Collins@newcastle.edu.au.|Hunter New England Population Health, Hunter New England Area Health District, New South Wales, Australia. Clare.Collins@newcastle.edu.au.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Clare.Collins@newcastle.edu.au.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, New South Wales, Australia. r.courtney@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Ryan J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Courtney
authors.affiliation: Cancer Council New South Wales, Woolloomoolloo, New South Wales, Australia. kathyc@nswcc.org.au.
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia. Luke.Wolfenden@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au.|Hunter New England Population Health, Hunter New England Area Health District, New South Wales, Australia. Luke.Wolfenden@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Luke.Wolfenden@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au.
authors.forename: Luke
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wolfenden
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia. Luke.Wolfenden@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Luke.Wolfenden@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au.
authors.forename: Ashleigh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guillaumier
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia. Andrew.Searles@hmri.com.au.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Andrew.Searles@hmri.com.au.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Searles
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D004032:Diet; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012107:Research Design; D018570:Risk Assessment; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013689:Telephone; D014829:Vocational Education; D055815:Young Adult