Photo credit: www.sciencedaily.com
Family-based behavioral treatment (FBT) has emerged as an effective intervention for managing obesity in children, where healthcare professionals collaborate with families to facilitate weight loss through enhanced physical activity, nutritious eating practices, and the development of age-appropriate behavioral strategies. Recent research from the University of California San Diego’s Center for Healthy Eating and Activity Research (CHEAR) indicates that a self-guided version of FBT can achieve similar outcomes to traditional methods. This self-guided approach offers increased scheduling flexibility, significantly lower costs, and reduced contact hours with providers. The findings were published in the journal Pediatrics.
“Conventional FBT effectively addresses childhood obesity, but it often demands substantial time commitments, operates on fixed schedules, and incurs high costs, which can deter families from seeking help, especially those in challenging financial situations,” explained Dr. Kerri Boutelle, the senior author of the study and director of CHEAR. “By condensing the core elements of traditional FBT into a more flexible format, we can broaden treatment access for families who might struggle with conventional group programs.”
Statistics reveal that approximately 20% of children in the U.S. were classified as obese based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2017 and 2018. The implications of childhood obesity are severe, increasing the likelihood of developing various health challenges, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and asthma. Additionally, obesity often correlates with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, diminished self-esteem, and social isolation. Unlike adults, children require family-centric support to successfully manage and reduce weight.
The study focused on creating a guided self-help variant of FBT, which consists of 20-minute biweekly sessions complemented by written educational resources for families to utilize between appointments. In contrast, traditional FBT typically involves weekly 60-minute sessions with separate groups for parents and children, in addition to the same biweekly visits. To assess the effectiveness of the self-guided approach, the researchers conducted a randomized trial involving 150 parent-child pairs assigned to either the standard or self-guided FBT, evaluating the children’s weight changes during treatment and during follow-up intervals of six, 12, and 18 months.
Results indicated that the self-guided FBT resulted in comparable weight loss in children to that achieved with traditional FBT, albeit with significantly reduced interaction time; 5.3 hours for self-guided versus 23 hours for conventional treatment. Moreover, the self-guided FBT cost was considerably less, amounting to $1,498 per family compared to $2,775 for the traditional method.
By highlighting the effectiveness of self-guided FBT, the study offers a promising and accessible response to the rising childhood obesity crisis, challenging the notion that substantial clinical involvement is necessary for successful weight management.
“Previous research has indicated that increased contact time generally correlates with better outcomes, but our results suggest the relationship might be more complex,” commented Boutelle. “Our findings underscore the importance of engaging parents in the treatment process, which can be effectively done without continuous clinician involvement. While some families may still prefer traditional FBT, providing flexible and accessible options like self-guided FBT can significantly impact the challenge of childhood obesity.”
Source
www.sciencedaily.com