Effectiveness of a Telephone Counseling Intervention for Improving Healthy Lifestyles: American Cancer Society's Nutrition and Physical Activity Research Study

The American Cancer Society estimates that 90,000 cancer deaths are attributable to being overweight and obese. Besides tobacco factors such as food and physical activity choices remain the most effective way to reduce individual cancer risk. The American Cancer Society has designed the Nutrition and Physical Activity (NuPA) Study to examine psycho-behavioral factors associated with success in weight management. The NuPA study will enroll 2,000 individuals to test effectiveness of a telephone-based, cognitive-behavioral intervention compared to self-help materials for the purpose of establishing a healthy lifestyle. Research hypothesis include the participants in the intervention group will be more successful at losing weight, increasing their fruit and vegetable consumption and being more physically active than those in the control group. Additional measures include saturated fat consumption, knowledge of relation between weight and health risks and self-efficacy.

The study employs a longitudinal prospective design, including 4 assessments: at intake, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups post-intervention. Preliminary findings of the 6-month evaluations revealed significant improvement in self-efficacy among participants in the intervention group. There is also a trend that the intervention group increased fruit and vegetable consumption. The presentation will provide more complete results from the 6-month evaluation data on the first 1,500 individuals enrolled in the research study. Results have the potential to be significant by identifying psycho-behavioral factors associated with changes in a healthy lifestyle. Discussion will also include sharing efforts of enrollment and participant retention as well as strategies implemented within the counseling sessions and self-help materials.