Individualized Health Intervention: Behavioral Change and Quality of Life in an Older Rural Chinese Population

A randomized cluster trial was conducted to assess the impact of individualized health intervention guided by the transtheoretical model (TTM) theory on behavior change and quality of life (QoL) among the older rural population of China. A total of 2441 persons aged 60 years and over participated in the study. After a nine-month intervention, brined vegetable intake, salt intake, and smoking decreased (p < .001) while fresh vegetable and fresh fruit intake increased within the intervention group (p < .01) after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. The intervention group improved significantly in role-physical, role-emotional, mental health, and mental component summary scale scores (p < .05) after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, health behavior, and chronic disease status. The study shows that individualized health interventions are a feasible method of changing the health behaviors and improving the QoL in the older rural population of China. Notes Note. CHC refers to community health campaign; IHI refers to individualized health intervention. a Unadjusted: Ordinal logistic regression models were fitted with behavior change as the dependent variable (increase = 0, no change = 1, and decrease=2) while intervention type as independent variable. b adjusted: Multivariable ordinal logistic regression models were fitted with behavior change as the dependent variable (increase=0, no change=1, and decrease=2) while intervention type, socio-demographic characteristics and chronic disease status as independent variables investigate the effect of intervention on health behavior after control the influences of these factors. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. Notes. Precontemplation refers to no intention to change within 6 months; contemplation refers to intend to change within 6 months, but no preparation; preparation refers to have a plan and intend to action within 1 month; action refers to change behavior thoroughly for no more than 6 month after intervention; maintenance refers to change behavior thoroughly for at least 6 month after intervention. People who relapsed were not included. The data of fresh vegetable intake were missing. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. Notes: MCS = Mental Component Summary; PCS = Physical Component Summary; SF-36 = Medical Outcomes 36-Item Short Form; B = unstandardized coefficients; SE = standard error; RSE = robust standard error. a Mean of Paired Changes: Mean of Outcome Minus Baseline. b Differences of Mean Changes: Intervention Mean of Paired Changes Minus Control Mean of Paired Changes. c Multiple Linear Regression: Multiple linear regression models were fitted with paired changes (outcome minus baseline) of each scale score as the dependent variable while intervention type, socio-demographic characteristics, health behavior, and chronic disease status as independent variables to investigate the effect of intervention on SF-36 scale scores after control the influences of these factors. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.