Educator and participant perceptions and cost analysis of stage-tailored educational telephone calls.

OBJECTIVE

To identify strengths and weaknesses of nutrition education via telephone calls as part of a larger stage-of-change tailored intervention with mailed materials.

DESIGN

Evaluative feedback was elicited from educators who placed the calls and respondents who received the calls.

SETTING

An internet and telephone survey of 10 states in the midwestern United States.

PARTICIPANTS

21 educators in 10 states reached via the internet and 50 young adults reached via telephone. VARIABLES MEASURED AND ANALYSIS: Rankings of intervention components, ratings of key aspects of educational calls, and cost data (as provided by a lead researcher in each state) were summarized via descriptive statistics. RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS: Educational calls used 6 to 17 minutes of preparation time, required 8 to 15 minutes of contact time, and had a mean estimated cost of $5.82 per call. Low-income young adults favored print materials over educational calls. However, the calls were reported to have positive effects on motivating participants to set goals. Educators who use educational telephone calls to reach young adults, a highly mobile target audience, may require a robust and flexible contact plan.