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Health Education Research Advance Access published online on November 6, 2009
Health Education Research, doi:10.1093/her/cyp063
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Characteristics of visitors and revisitors to an Internet-delivered computer-tailored lifestyle intervention implemented for use by the general public

Wendy Brouwer1,*, Anke Oenema1, Hein Raat1, Rik Crutzen2, Jascha de Nooijer2, Nanne K. de Vries2 and Johannes Brug3

1 Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2 Caphri, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands
3 EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Correspondence to: * Correspondence to: W. Brouwer. E-mail: wendy.brouwer{at}erasmusmc.nl

The Internet has become important for the delivery of behavior change interventions. This observational study examines how many people visited, registered and revisited a web-based computer-tailored intervention promoting heart-healthy behaviors when it is implemented for use by the general public. Among registered visitors, the association between visitors’ characteristics and initiating, completing and revisiting the website and/or its behavior-specific modules was analyzed. Server statistics showed that 285 146 visitors from unique IP addresses landed on the home page in a 36-month period; of these, >50% left the intervention website within 30 s. In total, 81 574 (28.6%) visitors completed the registration procedure and gained access to the intervention; 99% of registered visitors initiated one module, 91% completed at least one module and 6% revisited the intervention. The majority of the registered visitors were women, medium to highly educated, with a body mass index (BMI) <25. Women, visitors aged 40–50 years, visitors with a medium educational level and visitors with a BMI <25 were more likely to initiate and finish the modules. It is concluded that a heart-healthy computer-tailored Internet program can reach substantial numbers of people, but additional research is needed to develop promotional strategies that reach the high-risk population, i.e. men, older and lower educated persons.

Received on January 27, 2009; accepted on October 8, 2009


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