Couch Potatoes Called to Account

Researchers have reported that nagging overweight patients with an automated phone call system, encouraging them to eat less and take more exercise, can have a positive effect.

A project by the Centre for the Advancement of Health in Washington DC, involved almost 300 people with sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets.

The study found that instead of a real human counsellor calling the patient, or inviting them in for an expensive consultation, encouraging people to phone a number linked to an automated call management service can be surprisingly effective.

Patients voluntarily call the computer-controlled system which quizzes them about their habits. Callers interact by pressing numbers on their phone.

At the end the computer, having assessed the patients’ motivation, or lack of it, offered them a task or goal.

Despite the fact that most people claim to hate automated call handling systems, the US study indicates that such systems may have potential to be provide effective additional support to patients, and help them in modifying behaviour or complying with treatment regimes.

According to a BBC Online report on the study after three months, over a quarter of the participants had managed to achieve the recommended levels of exercise – for the group with no contact with the computer the figure was less than one in five.

Following the initial success the system has been upgraded so the computer will ring the patient at specified times to chase up their compliance with their exercise or diet regime

The computerised system provides patient’s doctors with regular monthly reports, detailing their progress and compliance with the recommended regime.

Such computerised telephone systems could potentially be used as a tool to help achieve the extremely ambitious health improvement targets set in the NHS Plan.

In the UK heavy investment has already gone into developing a national telephone advice service NHS Direct, which is now beginning work to integrate with GP out-of-hours services and less urgent ambulance services. A Public Accounts Committee report earlier this month noted that there was considerable potential to develop additional services building on the existing NHS Direct platform.