The effect of adding group-based counselling to individual lifestyle counselling on changes in dietary intake

Background: Few studies have investigated the specific effect of single intervention components in randomized controlled trials. The purpose was to investigate the effect of adding group-based diet and exercise counseling to individual life-style counseling on long-term changes in dietary habits.
Methods: The study was a randomized controlled intervention study. From a general Danish population, aged 30 to 60 years (n=61,301), two random sample were drawn (group A, n=11,708; group B, n=1,308). Subjects were invited for a health screening program. Participation rate was 52.5%. All participants received individual life-style counseling. Individuals at high risk of ischemic heart disease in group A were furthermore offered group-based life-style counseling whereas high risk individuals in group B were referred to their general practitioner. The intervention was repeated for high-risk individuals after one and three years. At five-year follow-up all participants were invited for a health examination. High risk individuals were included in this study (n=2 356) and changes in dietary intake were analyzed using multilevel linear regression analyses.
Conclusions: Offering group-based counseling in addition to individual counseling resulted in small, but significantly improved dietary habits at five-year follow-up and better maintenance, compared to individual counseling alone.