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Systematic Review
The authors state:
"This systematic review aimed to compare the effectiveness of face‐to‐face interventions for physical activity (PA) promotion in community dwelling adults (aged 16 years and above) with a control exposed to placebo or no or minimal intervention."
The authors state:
"A total of 10 studies recruiting 6292 apparently healthy adults met the inclusion criteria. All of the studies took place in high‐income countries. The effect of interventions on self‐reported PA at one year (eight studies; 6725 participants) was positive and moderate with significant heterogeneity (I² = 74%) (SMD 0.19; 95% CI 0.06 to 0.31; moderate quality evidence) but not sustained in three studies at 24 months (4235 participants) (SMD 0.18; 95% CI ‐0.10 to 0.46).
The effect of interventions on cardiovascular fitness at one year (two studies; 349 participants) was positive and moderate with no significant heterogeneity in the observed effects (SMD 0.50; 95% CI 0.28 to 0.71; moderate quality evidence).
Three studies (3277 participants) reported a positive effect on increasing PA levels when assessed as a dichotomous measure at 12 months, but this was not statistically significant (OR 1.52; 95% CI 0.88 to 2.61; high quality evidence).
Although there were limited data, there was no evidence of an increased risk of adverse events (one study; 149 participants).
Risk of bias was assessed as low. Any conclusions drawn from this review require some caution given the significant heterogeneity in the observed effects. Despite this, there was some indication that the most effective interventions were those that offered both individual and group support for changing PA levels using a tailored approach. The long term impact, cost effectiveness and rates of adverse events for these interventions was not established because the majority of studies stopped after 12 months."
The authors state:
"Although we found evidence to support the effectiveness of face‐to‐face interventions for promoting PA, at least at 12 months, the effectiveness of these interventions was not supported by high quality studies. Due to the clinical and statistical heterogeneity of the studies, only limited conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness of individual components of the interventions. Future studies should provide greater detail of the components of interventions, and assess impact on quality of life, adverse events and economic data."