The DeFIT it! Program utilizes the use of a
diet diary and heath
teaching through the use of SMS
texting. It was designed for the
respondents to acquire
knowledge on proper
diet and
physical activity. The program aims prevention of weightrelated
diseases such as
Hypertension, Type II
Diabetes mellitus, and
cardiovascular diseases among
overweight college
students. The sample consisted of 24
students with a
body mass index(BMI) between 25.00-25.99 kg/m2.
Respondents in the experimental group were subjected to
telenursing by receiving 4 daily short messaging services (SMS) for 21 days regarding
health education on proper
diet and
physical activity, and reminders to follow the DeFIT it! Program. Both the experimental and
control group were administered with a pretest and a posttest
knowledge evaluation
questionnaire before and after the implementation of the study, underwent a weekly
body mass index assessment, and were given a DeFIT it!
Booklet and DeFIT it! Diary during the initial contact with the
respondents. Interestingly,
statistical analysis of the data showed that there is a significant increase in the
knowledge of
telenursing users. However, there is no significant difference on the
physical activity and
diet adherence scores of
telenursing users when compared to nontelenursing users. Also, it was observed that there is a significant decrease in the BMI of the nontelenursing users group which may be attributed to their low
diet adherence scores. Thus,
telenursing with the use of SMS is effective in increasing the subjects’
knowledge regarding proper
diet and
physical activity.