Effect of Message Framing on Improving Physical Activity in Women With type 2 Diabetes

Background: The effectiveness of the educational message for motivating to change behavior may be greater than the actual content of a message depends on how the message is designed. Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of gain and loss framed messages on increased physical activity in women with type 2 diabetes attending a diabetes clinic in Ahvaz city. Methods: This randomized clinical trial study was performed among 119 patients with type 2 diabetes who referred to the diabetes clinic in Ahvaz in 2014. Patients were selected by convenience sampling then randomly divided in to gain (59 cases) and loss (60 cases) groups by using of random numbers table. Two groups received physical activity educational message in a different context via short message service for 2 months. The data in this study using a standard three-part questionnaire and interviews before and one month after intervention were collected. Data were analyzed by using SPSS version 16 by descriptive statistics, independent t-test and chi-square. Results: Based on the finding before the intervention two groups were similar of individual variables, the mean score of physical activity and disease characteristics. After the intervention, mean score of physical activity in both groups showed a significant increase (P 0.05).The results showed that patients who were faced with the loss framed messages compared to patients who were confronted to gain framed messages have more motivated to do physical activity (P 0.05). Conclusion: The present study indicates that loss framed messages are effective to increase the physical activity behaviors in women with type 2 diabetes.