Development of Alive! (A Lifestyle Intervention Via Email), and Its Effect on Health-related Quality of Life, Presenteeism, and Other Behavioral Outcomes: Randomized Controlled Trial
2008

Alive! A Lifestyle Intervention Via Email

Sample size: 787 publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Gunther Eysenbach, Gianluca Castelnuovo, Marieke Verheijden, Machiko Tomita, Gladys Block, Barbara Sternfeld, Clifford H Block, Torin J Block, Jean Norris, Donald Hopkins, Charles P Quesenberry Jr, Gail Husson, Heather Anne Clancy

Primary Institution: Kaiser Permanente Division of Research

Hypothesis

Does the Alive! email-based intervention improve health-related quality of life, presenteeism, and other behavioral outcomes?

Conclusion

The Alive! program significantly improved health-related quality of life, presenteeism, self-efficacy, and stage of change among participants.

Supporting Evidence

  • Mean SF-8 Physical quality of life score increased significantly more in the intervention group than in the control group.
  • Odds ratio for improvement in self-assessed health status was 1.57 for the intervention group compared to the control group.
  • Participants in the intervention group were 1.47 times more likely to report improvement in presenteeism.

Takeaway

Alive! is a program that sends emails to help people eat better and be more active, and it really helps them feel healthier and happier.

Methodology

Participants were randomized to either the intervention group or a wait-list control group, and their health-related quality of life, presenteeism, self-efficacy, and stage of change were assessed using pre-post questionnaires.

Potential Biases

Potential conflict of interest as some authors have financial interests in the program.

Limitations

The requirement for email and Internet access limits applicability, and there are no objective measures of outcomes like self-efficacy or productivity.

Participant Demographics

Participants were aged 19 to 65 years, with a mean age of 44, and 74.3% were female.

Statistical Information

P-Value

P = .02

Confidence Interval

95% CI 0.96-2.72

Statistical Significance

p<0.05

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.2196/jmir.1112

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