Objective: We investigated whether providing participants in an exercise programme with regular feedback on their exercise progress affected their adherence to the programme regimen.
Method: We conducted a randomized controlled trial. Adult men and women with borderline hypertension and a body mass index ≥ 25.0 were randomized to two intervention groups (groups A and B) and one control group (group C) and were prescribed regular aerobic exercise. During the 12-week study period, group A was provided with both feedback information on their exercise progress and a health letter, while group B was provided with the health letter only. The main outcome measure was exercise performance, per cent achievement of target exercise level (%) defined as the number of weeks during which the exercise target was reached divided by the number of weeks in the programme. Results were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test.
Results: A total of 105 study subjects were randomized into three groups (A, n = 37; B, n = 37 and C, n = 31). Per cent achievement of target exercise level during the 12-week period was highest in group A (26.5%), followed by groups B (22.9%) and C (17.4%) (P = 0.36). Subjects who received regular feedback during the exercise programme tended to have higher exercise performance.
Conclusions: In improving adherence to exercise intervention, the provision of regular feedback to participants in an exercise programme may be an effective intervention.
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.