Abstract
The present study was designed to examine the efficacy of a standard, print-based intervention for older adults living at home. Five hundred forty older adults randomly assigned to either (a) an intervention group (males: 113, females: 149) or (b) a control group (males: 141, females: 157) participated. Four standard, printed self-help exercise promotion materials were mailed to the intervention group for six months at 1.5-month intervals. Participants were assessed for stages of exercise behavior change and five psychological constructs posited to influence participation in physical activity (e.g., exercise self-efficacy).
The main findings were as follows:
1) Chi-squared analyses showed that, compared to the control group, the standard, print-based intervention significantly promoted the upper stages of exercise behavior change in females.
2) ANOVA showed that the standard, print-based intervention significantly affected the scores for Perceived Benefits of Exercise in females. The intervention group had a significantly higher score than the control group.
These results suggest that intervention using printed self-help exercise promotion materials is effective for guiding physical activity change in older female adults, but has little effect in older male adults. Controlled studies are needed to determine the types of print-based messages that are most effective, and the frequency or duration with which such intervention should be delivered.
