Summary

People in rural communities often do not have access to the support they need to stay at a healthy weight. In a comparison, telephone counseling was found to work well in helping a group of formerly obese women in a remote area avoid weight regain. The phone was as good as face-to-face counseling, and better than just receiving a newsletter about weight maintenance.

Introduction

Residents of rural counties of the United States tend to have higher incidences of obesity, chronic disease and a sedentary lifestyle. These people would benefit from diet and exercise advice and support to keep up any lifestyle changes. Yet people living in remote places often find it hard to access services that would help them. It is hard enough for anyone to stop regaining weight after an exercise program but especially problematic for those in rural areas because of this access problem. But maybe delivering support services by phone may be a useful alternative to attending a group at a clinic.

What was done

Researchers at the University of Florida worked with a group of 234 obese women aged 50 to 75, living in rural communities with poor access to medical services. First of all, the women took part in a six month weight loss program. Then they were assigned to one of three extended care programs. Either they had telephone counseling, face-to-face counseling, or received a newsletter about maintaining a healthy weight. All three interventions were delivered once every two weeks for a year. The women's weight was monitored throughout.

What was found

At the start of the study, the average weight of the participants was 212.5 pounds. During the weight loss phase, the average amount of weight lost was 22 pounds - enough to make a real improvement in health. At the end of follow up, the women in both counseling groups put back only about 2.6 pounds, on average. Those in the newsletter group put back about eight pounds, by contrast.

What this study means

It looks as if the human contact element is important in giving support and motivation when someone is trying to maintain a weight loss. Counseling offers motivation and encouragement to stick to weight management strategies. A newsletter does not seem to be as effective as someone taking a personal, but professional, interest in you. Face-to-face counseling is, however, expensive and the logistics can be difficult in a remote area. So it is encouraging to know that counseling delivered by phone is equally effective.