Hockey FIT for Women (HFIT for Women): Evaluating the effectiveness of a healthy lifestyle program for female hockey fans

Context: More than half of Canadian women are overweight or have obesity, highlighting a need for innovative health promotion strategies to reduce the risk for chronic diseases. Health promotion programs have been shown to offer many benefits including improved health outcomes, and overall well-being. Hockey FIT for Women (HFIT for Women) was adapted from Hockey Fans in Training (HFIT), a 12-week gender-sensitized healthy lifestyle program for men with overweight and obesity, who were fans of their local hockey team. Findings from HFIT studies emphasized a need to adapt the program for women.

Objective: Evaluate whether participating in the HFIT for Women program led to improvements in health outcomes.

Study Design and Analysis: Data were collected at baseline and 12 weeks. Linear mixed-effects models with time as fixed effects were used to examine changes in outcome variables following the intervention and adjusting for covariates.

Setting: Three communities in Ontario, including fitness facilities and major junior hockey teams.

Population Studied: Individuals who identified as women, 18+ years of age, and met safety requirements.

Intervention: Program was delivered once weekly (90 minutes) and consisted of 50% in-class education and 50% exercise.

Outcome Measures: Self-reported average steps/day; physical activity and sitting time (International Physical Activity Questionnaire); healthful eating score-Starting the Conversation Questionnaire; Wellbeing and Support – WHO-5 Wellbeing Index, EQ-5D Visual Analog Scale (VAS) Score, Duke Social Support Index (DSSI); Measured weight and estimated VO2 max.

Results: Fifty-nine women were recruited: mean age of 41 years (SD=11.3), average weight of 84.2 kg (SD=20.4) at baseline and 53.8% overall attendance of program sessions. Significant mean change from baseline to 12 weeks (p<0.05) was observed for steps (+1318 steps, 95% CI 51.0 to 2585), total physical activity (+796 MET minutes/week, 95% CI 521 to 1071), healthful eating score (-1.1, 95% CI -1.8 to -0.3,), WHO-5 wellbeing index (+10.2, 95% CI 4.0 to 16.3), and EQ-5D VAS Score (+9.1, 95% CI 5.5 to 12.8). There were no changes in sitting time, DSSI, weight and VO2 max.

Conclusions: These results offer evidence supporting the effectiveness of HFIT for Women in enhancing physical activity, healthy eating, and facilitating other positive changes in health outcomes. Future studies should target at-risk women and explore further avenues for scalability.