The CHAT (Community Health Advice by Telephone) Study

Two hundred and twenty five healthy, sedentary men and women ages 55 and older will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: 12 months of physical activity counseling delivered by a human counselor, 12 months of physical activity counseling delivered by a telephone-linked computer system, or a 12-month attention-control condition (a health education class). Data on physical activity participation and related quality of life indicators (e.g., improved physical functioning, fitness, sleep) will be collected at baseline, 6 months, 12 month post-test and 18 month follow-up. The primary hypotheses are:

• participants in either physical activity counseling condition will show greater improvements in physical activity participation at 12 months compared to the attention-control condition;
• participants in the human counselor condition will show greater improvements in physical activity at 12 months relative to the computer condition; and
• participants in the computer condition will show better maintenance of physical activity between 12 and 18 months compared to participants in the human counselor condition.