Abstract
Web-based lifestyle interventions have attracted considerable research interest. Available evidence on such interventions suggests health-promoting effects, but further research is needed. Therefore, this study aims to investigate short-, medium-, and long-term health effects of a web-based health program (“TK-HealthCoach”, TK-HC) offered by a national statutory health insurance fund (Techniker Krankenkasse, TK). The study comprises two randomized controlled clinical trials to evaluate the health goals “Increasing Fitness” (Fclin) and “Losing and Maintaining Weight” (Wclin). A total of n = 186 physically inactive (Fclin) and n = 150 overweight or obese (Wclin) adults will be randomly assigned to a 12-week interactive (TK-HC) or non-interactive web-based health program using permuted block randomization with a 1:1 allocation ratio. Primary outcomes include cardiorespiratory fitness (Fclin) and body weight (Wclin). Secondary outcomes comprise musculoskeletal fitness (Fclin), physical activity and dietary behavior, anthropometry, blood pressure, blood levels, and vascular health (Fclin, Wclin). All outcomes will be measured before and after the 12-week intervention and after a 6- and 12-month follow-up. Additionally, usage behavior data on the health programs will be assessed. Linear mixed models (LMMs) will be used for statistical analysis. Findings of this study will expand the available evidence on web-based lifestyle interventions.
Highlights
IntroductionToday’s lifestyle in wealthy societies is increasingly characterized by physical inactivity and unhealthy diets, facilitating the prevalence of overweight and obesity
The study is designed in the form of two randomized controlled, parallel-group clinical trials (Fclin, Wclin ) using permuted block randomization with a 1:1 allocation ratio
The health programs were developed as desktop and mobile versions by TK and Vilua Healthcare GmbH (VHG), the project’s IT
Summary
Today’s lifestyle in wealthy societies is increasingly characterized by physical inactivity and unhealthy diets, facilitating the prevalence of overweight and obesity. The present study intends to close this gap by evaluating such a program of a national statutory health insurance fund (Techniker Krankenkasse, TK) This program (“TKHealthCoach”, TK-HC) focuses on sustainable lifestyle changes to prevent NCDs in the long term by offering individually tailored, multimodal health coaching in which individuals can prioritize a personal health goal [70]. Concerning the health goals “Increasing Fitness” and “Losing and Maintaining Weight”, two additional randomized controlled clinical trials (Fclin , Wclin ) will be performed to strengthen the effects on health goal achievement by objectively measured health outcomes, such as cardiorespiratory fitness (Fclin ) and body weight (Wclin ), through sports and nutritional medical examinations. Compared to a 12-week non-interactive web-based health program in physically inactive (Fclin ) and overweight or obese adults (Wclin ) For this purpose, the effects of each webbased health program on primary and secondary outcomes will first be examined. The hypothesis that higher frequency and intensity of program use leads to better primary and secondary outcomes in comparison to program use of lower frequency and intensity will be tested
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