Skills Training Within a Family-based Obesity Treatment Intervention

University of Delaware2 enrolled

Overview

This study is investigating the impact of a skills training program in stimulus control of meals and snacks on zBMI. Participants will be randomized to a standard family-based obesity treatment intervention with education on child health or a standard family-based obesity treatment intervention with experiential learning about meal stimulus control strategies.

Family-based obesity treatment interventions can successfully reduce weight in children, but are often limited in the practice of skills being taught during treatment sessions. Skills training focused on a particular behavioral strategy can provide parents with an experiential component of learning where the information learned as part of a family-based obesity treatment intervention is also practiced. Health education simply provides knowledge to a family about a topic.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Obesity, Childhood

Interventions

child health educationBEHAVIORAL

10, 60-minute sessions with a family-based obesity treatment program implemented for the first 40-minutes of each session followed by 20 minutes of education about a child health topic.

skills trainingBEHAVIORAL

10, 60-minute sessions with a family-based obesity treatment program implemented for the first 40-minutes of each session followed by 20 minutes of experiential learning about stimulus control strategies (portion size, energy density, variety).

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 4 YearsMax age: 8 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * caregiver of child is ≥18 years of age; * the caregiver has a child between the ages of 4 and 8 years-old who is classified as overweight (body mass index for age ≥ 85th percentile); * the caregiver and child are able to read, speak and understand English due to delivery of the program in English; * has transportation to the University of Delaware; and * is willing and able to commit to the 3-month study. Exclusion Criteria: * the child has a medical condition impacting physical activity or eating (e.g. Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes); * the child have a medical condition that affects growth (e.g. Prader Willi Syndrome); * the child is currently participating in a weight management program, and/or taking weight loss medication; or * the caregiver or child has an inability to participate in regular physical activity.

Locations (1)

University of Delaware

Newark, Delaware, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

z-BMI

Height and weight will be used to calculate BMI (kg/m2) and BMI will be standardized in relation to the population mean and standard deviation for the child's age to sex to determine zBMI.

Time frame: 3-months

Secondary Outcomes

Energy intake

Based upon a 3-day dietary record analyzed using NDS-R, energy intake will be averaged across the three days.

Time frame: 3-months

Percent Energy from Fat

Based upon a 3-day dietary record analyzed using NDS-R, the calories from fat will be divided by total energy intake (calories) to get percentage energy from fat.

Time frame: 3-months

Food groups servings

Based upon a 3-day dietary record analyzed using NDS-R, the number of servings consumed from each food group will be averaged over three days.

Time frame: 3-months

Physical Activity

Minutes spent engaging in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity will be measured using the PD-PAR.

Time frame: 3-months

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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