Prevention of NCDs Through Screening and Educating Individuals on Health-risk Behaviours in the Community

NCT05790395 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: NTEC-2023-081
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 330
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Aim: to prevent NCDs by screening and educating individuals in the community on health-risk behaviours. Specifically, we will use a mobile health and a brief self-determination theory-based intervention in helping individual change their health-risk behaviours. Hypotheses to be tested: compared with those in the control group, the participants in the intervention group will experience significantly greater success in modifying their health-risk behaviours and will have a better health-related quality of life at 12 months follow-up. Objectives

1. 1.To screen individuals for health-risk behaviours and identify risk factors that may contribute to NCDs
2. 2.To educate individuals on the importance of engaging in healthy lifestyles
3. 3.To develop a training programme - "Train the Trainers' Toolkit", with the goal to train student nurses (Years 2 to 5) as health ambassadors to implement the project on a long-term basis.

Conditions

Non Communicable Diseases; Health-risk Behaviours

Keywords

Health-risk Behaviours; Non Communicable Diseases

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Abstain from health-risk behaviour

  About 10% of participants will successfully abstain from at least one health-risk behaviour at 12-month follow-up

  12 months

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Reduction in health-risk behaviours

  12 months

• Improvement in health-related quality of life

  12 months

• Ambassadors' knowledge and skill on providing professional health advice and support to participants about changing their health-risk behaviours

  6 months

• Improvement in blood pressure

  12 months

• Improvement in body mass index

  12 months

Study Arms (2)

Intervention group

EXPERIMENTAL

The participants will also be given a Practical Resource Hub for Healthy Life leaflet containing information on various applications. The participants will receive a brief telephone intervention using the Ask, Warn, Advise, Refer and Do-it-again (AWARD) model. For the advice step, the research assistant will ask about the priority the participants place on engagement in desirable health-related lifestyle practices identified in the completed behavioural risk factor survey. The participants will also be asked to choose the goal that they consider easiest to achieve, such as quitting or reducing smoking, consuming more vegetables or less fatty foods or sugary drinks, performing more exercise or reducing alcohol consumption. The participants will be encouraged to quit health-risk behaviours (or adopt a healthy lifestyle) sequentially, but they will also be able to choose to quit them simultaneously if they are confident in doing so.

Other: Theory of planned behaviour, foot-in-the-door technique, and self-determination theory intervention

Control group

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

The control group participants will also be given a Practical Resource Hub for Healthy Life leaflet containing information on various applications. However, the health ambassadors will simply advise the participants to modify their health-risk behaviours and/or adopt a healthy lifestyle practice. The participants will also receive follow-up for outcome assessments with the same schedule as those in the intervention group.

Other: health-risk behaviors

Interventions

health-risk behaviors OTHER

The participants will be simply advised to modify their health-risk behaviours and/or adopt a healthy lifestyle practice. The participants will also receive follow-up for outcome assessments with the same schedule as those in the intervention group.

Control group

Theory of planned behaviour, foot-in-the-door technique, and self-determination theory intervention OTHER

The participants will also be asked to choose the goal that they consider easiest to achieve and encouraged to quit health-risk behaviours. The research assistant will assist in achieving the participant's health-related goals by sending WhatsApp/WeChat messages or via telephone calls once per week for the first 6 months.

Intervention group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Chinese adults in Kwai Chung Estate:
• age ≥18 years
• the presence of at least one health risk behaviour (tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity)
• able to communicate in Cantonese
• Nursing students:
• age ≥18 years
• Year 2 to 5

You may not qualify if:

• poor cognitive state or mental illness
• participation in another related study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Chinese University of Hong Kong: lead

Study Sites (1)

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Noncommunicable Diseases

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Disease Attributes; Pathologic Processes; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Study Officials

• Ho Cheung William Li, PhD

  Chinese University of Hong Kong

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 16, 2023
• First Posted: March 30, 2023
• Study Start: July 13, 2023
• Primary Completion: March 31, 2025
• Study Completion: March 31, 2025
• Last Updated: March 19, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL
• Time Frame: After the project has been completed and the results of the project has been published
• Access Criteria: Request could be sent to Principal Investigator (williamli@cuhk.edu.hk)

Locations

HK (1)