Promoting health behaviour in Portuguese children via Short Message Service: The efficacy of a text-messaging programme
Silva, Cátia Sofia Botelho
;Fassnacht, Daniel Benjamin
;Ali, Kathina
; Gonçalves, Sónia;Conceicao, Eva
;Vaz, Ana
;Crosby, Ross D.
;Machado, Paulo P. P.
Artigo de Jornal
A Short Message Service programme was adapted to monitor three health behaviours and provide supportive feedback. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme to increase fruit/vegetable consumption and physical activity and to decrease screen time. A total of 139 Portuguese children, aged 8-10years, grouped by classroom, were randomly assigned to an intervention (8weeks of monitoring/feedback) or a control condition. Participants had their key behaviours assessed at baseline, post-intervention and follow-up. A three-level hierarchical linear model was developed. Results showed that the monitoring and feedback programme significantly increased fruit and vegetable consumption over time.
- This research was supported by a Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia/Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal (FCT/PTDC/PSI-PCL/099981/2008), grant to the last author (P.P.P.M.).
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion