Acceptability of proactive telephone recruitment to a telephone support service to encourage healthy eating, physical activity and weight loss

Insufficient physical activity, an unhealthy diet and obesity are among the leading causes of death and disability in Australia and represent a considerable burden to the nation.1 Accordingly, in February 2009, the New South Wales (NSW) Government launched the ‘Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service’ to help adults reduce these health risks.2,3 The innovative service provides free brief telephone calls, print information and resources to all callers, and for the interested, expert individualised telephone coaching consisting of up to 10 calls for up to 6 months. Systematic reviews of randomised trials support the efficacy of extended telephone support in achieving health behaviour change.4 As such, broad community use of such services has the potential to make important contributions to improving public health.