Tailored telephone education to promote awareness and adoption of fruit and vegetable recommendations among urban and mostly immigrant black men: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background Fruit and vegetable (FV) intake in black men are far below national recommendations. Methods Urban, primarily immigrant, black men ( n = 490) from the New York City metropolitan area participating in the Cancer Awareness and Prevention (CAP) Trial (2005–2007) were randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups: 1) FV Education (FVE) or 2) Prostate Education (PE). Both interventions entailed a mailed brochure plus two tailored telephone education (TTE) calls. Outcomes, measured at baseline and at eight months, included knowledge of FV recommendations, perceived benefits, stage of readiness to adopt recommendations and self-reported FV consumption. Results At follow-up, the FVE group consumed an average of 1.2 more FV servings per day than the PE group ( P < 0.001; adjusted for baseline). The FVE group also demonstrated increases in knowledge about recommended FV amounts ( P < 0.01) and appropriate serving sizes ( P < 0.05), and in the percent of participants moving from a lower to a higher stage of readiness to adopt FV recommendations ( P < 0.05). The FVE group did not demonstrate increases in knowledge related to the importance of eating a colorful variety or in the ability to name potential health benefits. Conclusions TTE can be a practical and moderately effective intervention for raising awareness of FV recommendations and for promoting FV consumption in urban and primarily immigrant black men.