The Effects of Education on Lifestyle Modification

Abstract

The VA Hospital’s diabetes prevention program assessed ten veteran’s ability to adopt lifestyle modifications through individualized versus group educational programming. The hypothesis was that there would be a difference in the adoption of lifestyle modifications between two education programs as measured by weight reduction, waist circumference, and physical activity levels. The results did not indicate significant differences in adopting lifestyle modifications between the two groups. The results are discussed in terms of reasons why there were no differences between the individual and group educational programs including the small sample size, duration and time of year of the intervention, and problems with consistency in determining adequately the physical activity of participants.