OVERVIEW OF THE ACTIVITY COUNSELING TRIAL (ACT) INTERVENTION FOR PROMOTING PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY IN PRIMARY HEALTH-CARE SETTINGS

Counseling by health care providers has the potential to increase phys ical activity in sedentary patients, yet few studies have tested inter ventions for physical activity counseling delivered in health care set tings. The Activity Counseling Trial (ACT) is a 5-yr randomized clinic al trial to evaluate the efficacy of two primary care, practice-based physical activity behavioral interventions relative to a standard care control condition. A total of 874 sedentary men and women, 35-75 yr o f age, have been recruited from primary care physician offices at thre e clinical centers for 2 yr of participation. They were randomly assig ned to one of three experimental conditions that vary, in a hierarchic al fashion, by Level of counseling intensity and resource requirements . The interventions, which are based on social cognitive theory and th e transtheoretical model, are designed to alter empirically based psyc hosocial mediators that are known to be associated with physical activ ity. The present paper describes the theoretical background of the int ervention, the intervention methods, and intervention training and qua lity control procedures.