A Randomised Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Administration of the Health Improvement Card as a Health Promotion Tool: A Physiotherapist-Led Community-Based Initiative.

Yiwen Bai,Raymond Cc Tsang,Ruisheng Yun,Elizabeth Dean,Yan Lu,Alice Ym Jones,Xubo Wu

doi:10.3390/ijerph17218065

Abstract

A randomised controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the administration of the Health Improvement Card (HIC) on lifestyle practices and biometric variables in community-dwelling Chinese participants. Adults living in Shanghai were randomly assigned to either the HIC-intervention or control group. Measurements/assessments were conducted at baseline and three-month follow-up. Supervised physiotherapy students administered the HIC and four standardised questionnaires related to health and wellbeing. Both groups received a health promotion education pamphlet. Based on participants’ HIC biometric and lifestyle scores, students prescribed lifestyle, and exercise advice to the HIC-intervention group. 171 individuals (39 men, 132 women) (mean age 68.4 ± 9.7 y) participated. At follow-up, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference decreased significantly in the HIC-intervention group. Furthermore, the number of participants in the HIC-intervention group categorised as low risk regarding their physical activity and dietary practices, increased by 32.2% and 20%, respectively. Changes in standardised questionnaire scores did not meet minimum clinically importance differences in either group. This is the first study to demonstrate that HIC-informed health promotion education can improve people’s lifestyle practices, thereby, objective biometric variables. Evaluation of the effect of HIC-informed lifestyle education on some biometric parameters (blood pressure and BMI) may warrant a longer timeframe.

Highlights

Comparable to other developing countries, globalisation has led to rapid economic and social change in China which is contributing to unhealthy lifestyle practices and increased risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) within the population [1,2,3]
This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of administration of the Health Improvement Card (HIC) in effecting positive lifestyle behaviour change related to reducing NCD risk factors, in turn, optimising markers of good health reflected in the biometric data
Compared with previously published data on Chinese physiotherapy students’ views regarding their understanding of the role of HIC in health promotion education [8], students involved in the present study reported an even greater understanding of the role of the HIC and greater confidence in interpreting the HIC data and progressing participants, based on their goals and action plans

Summary

Introduction

Comparable to other developing countries, globalisation has led to rapid economic and social change in China which is contributing to unhealthy lifestyle practices and increased risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) within the population [1,2,3]. Public Health 2020, 17, 8065; doi:10.3390/ijerph17218065 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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