Description of Study Population | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
During the 2008 Holiday Challenge, 320 people signed up to receive emails. As noted earlier, all of these people were invited to participate in the 2009 challenge via email. These participants could ask to be removed from the contact list at anytime. Another 34 adults, new to the challenge, signed up for the weekly emails. Therefore a total of 354 people were contacted to participate in the 2009 challenge. Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing who of the participants from 2008 were actually participating in the 2009 challenge; due to this it is not possible to calculate an accurate response rate.
Seventy-seven respondents completed the online pre-survey. At the end of the challenge 39 email participants completed the post-survey and we were able to match pre- to post- responses for 64% (25 out of 39). Most participants were women both in the pre-survey (98.7%) and the post-survey (84.6%) (Table 1.1). The majority of participants were between 50 and 65 years of age (pre- 40.3%; post- 43.6%). Seventy- four percent of pre-responders and 72% of post-responders indicated they had graduated from college or university. The Body Mass Index (BMI) for 34% of pre-responders is considered normal‟. Another 33% would be considered "overweight" and the remaining 31% considered "obese". Table 1.1: Sex of Holiday Challenge Participants
Table 1.2: Age of Holiday Challenge Participants
Table 1.3: Level of Education of Holiday Challenge Participants
Table 1.4: Body Mass Index of Holiday Challenge Participants
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Healthy Eating Self-Efficacy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The healthy eating self-efficacy measure had 8 statements each rated from 1 to 5, therefore the possible range of scores was 5 to 40 (5 = low self-efficacy; 40 = high self-efficacy). Participants‟ pre- challenge scores ranged from 16 to 40 and the range for post-challenge scores was 11 to 32. There was a statistically significant difference between pre-challenge healthy eating self-efficacy scores and post- challenge scores in the paired group of participants (n=22, p<0.05) according to a two-tailed, paired T- test. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Physical Activity Self-Efficacy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Similar to the healthy eating self-efficacy measure, this measure had 8 statements scored from 1 to 5 and therefore total scores ranging from 5 to 40. The range of scores for the paired participants was pre- challenge 12 to 40 and post-challenge 9 to 40. There was not a statistically significant difference in physical activity self-efficacy in the paired group of participants (n=22, p=0.5) according to a two- tailed, paired T-test. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
One of the objectives of the evaluation was to determine whether participants maintained, gained or lost weight over the length of the challenge. In the post-questionnaire participants were asked: "What is the difference in your weight from the beginning of the Challenge to now?" Half of the post- challenge respondents indicated they had maintained their pre-challenge weight, about one third had a decrease in their weight and no one indicated they gained weight over the 4 weeks of the challenge (Table 2.1 and Table 2.2).
Participants were also asked about any change in weight during the previous holiday season. Half of the post-challenge respondents indicated their weight increased during the holiday season, while about twenty percent indicated they either had no change in weight or had not kept track. Table 2.1: Self-Reported Weight change during Challenge and last holiday season (Number)
Table 2.2: Self-Reported Weight change during Challenge and last holiday season (%)
Comments made by participants who indicated they had no change in weight:
Comments made by participants who indicated they had a decrease in weight:
Comments made by participants who indicated they did not keep track:
Comments made by participants who indicated they had an increase in weight last season:
Comments made by participants who indicated they did not keep track of their weight last year:
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Self-Efficacy and Weight Change/Maintenance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
We were unable to determine if there was a relationship between participant self-efficacy and weight change due to low numbers in the matched sample. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Participant Satisfaction | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Participant satisfaction was determined by gathering qualitative data. Participants were asked what they liked and did not like about the program. Twenty-six participants out of 33 who completed the survey provided comments. Refer to Appendix C to view all comments.
Participants especially liked the email reminders and the encouragement they received through these emails. There was also an indication that the recipes were a favourite feature of the Holiday Challenge initiative. Fewer comments were made by participants as to what they did not like about the challenge. A few participants did not find the material motivating. Other comments were constructive for program development, for example: wanting more recipes for two rather than four people and sending the final survey a little later. |
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Participants' Strategies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Participants were asked to provide one or more strategies that assisted them to achieve their personal goal during the Holiday Challenge. (Appendix D) The purpose of this question was to examine whether participants tried the skills or strategies that were provided in the online material and also to gather suggestions/ideas for tips to be included in the 2010 Holiday Challenge.
Nutrition-related tips were offered by respondents more often than physical activity related ones. Many of the nutrition-related tips related to changing or noticing snacking habits. Physical activity strategies were kept simple and often involved walking. |