title: Reach and effectiveness of an integrated community-based intervention on physical activity and healthy eating of older adults in a socioeconomically disadvantaged community.
abstract: The aim of this study is to assess the reach and effectiveness of an integrated community-based intervention designed to promote physical activity and healthy eating among older adults in a socioeconomically disadvantaged community in the Netherlands. The intervention was evaluated with a controlled pre-post quasi-experimental design, with 430 randomly selected older adults participating in the intervention group and 213 in a control group at baseline. The intervention included a local media campaign and environmental approaches (e.g., community involvement) and was implemented during a 3-month high-intensity period, followed by a 6-month low-intensity one. Levels of physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption were assessed at baseline and at 3 and 9 months after baseline. At the follow-up measurements, the intervention had reached respectively 68 and 69% of the participants in the intervention group. No significant differences were found between the intervention group and the control group in changes to any outcome except for transport-related PA at 3 and 9 months follow-up. The systematically developed community-based intervention reached a relatively large proportion of the participants, but had only small effects on the levels of physical activity and healthy eating in older adults in the short and medium term.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Community & Occupational Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 196, Groningen 9700 AD, The Netherlands k.a.luten@umcg.nl.
authors.forename: Karla A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Luten
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Community & Occupational Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 196, Groningen 9700 AD, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sijmen A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Reijneveld
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Psychology, University of Groningen, Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, Groningen 9712 TS, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Arie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dijkstra
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Community & Occupational Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 196, Groningen 9700 AD, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Andrea F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: de Winter
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000072001:Diet, Healthy; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D011204:Poverty Areas; D015397:Program Evaluation; D057566:Self Report