Purpose: The purpose of the study was to develop a health education program, named "i-exerM," utilizing the mail function of the mobile phone and affect its effects setting body weight reduction as the achievement target.
Methods: The i-exerM was developed with 136 adults (28 males and 108 females) living or working in Shizuoka Prefecture, and subscribing to the i-mode of NTT DoCoMo orJ-sky of JPHONE (currently Vodafone), who indicated an interest in participating in a body weight reduction twelve week (between July 15th and October 9th, 2003) program. As-one of the special characteristics of the i-exerM, the subjects were informed once every day via mailing to the mobile phone some new items regarding body weight reduction knowledge and practice. By use of a self-monitoring method, the subjects were asked to register the body weight via internet from time to time. Information for each individual at the start and the end of the i-exerM monitoring session was collected with a questionnaire covering physical conditions, lifestyle and program evaluation, without an meeting with the participants during the program. From this trial result, the enforcement potential of healthy education utilizing the mail function of mobile phones was examined.
Results: 1) Those who submitted a questionnaire before the i-exerM start and after the end were 14 adult (50%) males and 69 adult (64%) females. 2) A tendency for reduced body weight was found in 63 (46%) of 136 adults who participated in the i-exerM. Furthermore, average body weights were significantly reduced (P < 0.001) from 73.2 kg to 71.1 kg (males), and from 58.8 kg to 57.6 kg (females). 3) The i-exerM program was evaluated positively, 44 adults (32%) indicating that it was "greatly effective" for "stimulating consideration of body reduction and starting concrete efforts."
Conclusion: The success of the current i-exerM program suggests its possible application for chronic disease states such as hypertension and hyperlipidemia.