| Culturally-Adapted, Telephone-Based System to Promote Physical Activity
Who is the intervention targeting?
African American patients with cardiovascular disease
What intervention is being evaluated?
An automated, interactive behavior change program will be delivered to patients by telephone and will individually tailor health messages based on a range of individual and cultural variables. The telephone system functions as an at-home monitor, educator and counselor for reinforcing or changing health-related behaviors. Patients will receive 12 weekly calls that will last approximately 10 minutes each.
Where is this intervention taking place?
A large, urban safety net provider affiliated with 15 community health centers serving a predominantly minority patient population.
Partnering Organizations
Boston Medical Center (Lead Organization)
Mattapan Community Health Center
Codman Square Community Health Center
Boston HealthNet Why might this approach work?
Use of computer-assisted telephone systems can be accessed at any time and any location. This outreach strategy may be better studied to African Americans of lower socioeconomic status who commonly experience a range of obstacles to participating in traditional, face-to-face behavior change programs. Additionally, the original “culture-neutral” telephone scripts used in a previous implementation of the program were adapted for urban, African American adults by matching materials and messages to both superficial characteristics of the target population and deep rooted values and psychological forces that influence behavior.
How will this intervention be evaluated?
Two complementary, but distinct, studies will take place. The first, will assess the effectiveness of the intervention using a randomized control trial design. 216 patients will be recruited and randomized to the control or intervention group, and participate in a three month follow-up assessment.
Outcome measures include:
The second study will assess the feasibility of the intervention in usual practice, outside of the research setting, by studying actual referral patterns of clinical staff and usage patterns of the patients. Additionally, patient and physician experiences using this system will be assessed to inform future efforts. Both the direct costs of implementing the telecommunications system and prompting patient referrals along with patients’ out-of-pocket expenses and the opportunity costs of time spent on the phone will be analyzed.
Principal Investigators:
Julien J. Dedier, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Boston Medical Center
Robert H. Friedman, MD
Chief of the Medical Information Systems Unit, Boston Medical Center
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