Technological effectiveness in readiness for behavior change in hypertension and overweight

Objective: To test the effectiveness of an educational technology on overweight in the stage of readiness for behavior change in adults with hypertension and overweight. Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study, with two groups, comparison and intervention, each with 36 participants, whose stage of readiness for behavior change was assessed before (moment zero) and after (moment one) of the intervention (implementation or not) of the booklet after one month (moment two) and two months (moment three) of the first contact via telephone. The stage of readiness for behavior change was compared before and after and between groups by Student's t test for sample in pairs and for independent groups, respectively. Results: The results showed that the implementation of the booklet favors more lasting thoughts of change, with statistically significant differences between the groups in moment two (p=0.020) and three (p=0.003) and between moments zero and one (p <0.0001), moments zero and two (p=0.001), moments zero and three (p <0.0001) and moment two and three (p <0.0001) in the group intervention. Conclusion: The educational booklet was therefore validated and favored the advance in the stage of readiness for behavior change, proving to be effective for educational health practices. The validation of the booklet allows its use in health education activities reliably in the public in question.