Weight Management Intervention in College: A Pilot
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: BWLI-College, Control.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Obesity and Overweight. Basic parameters: 18 years — 29 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United States
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
Testing a Behavioral Weight Loss Intervention for Emerging Adults Implemented Within College Health Service Centers
Overview
This pilot randomized controlled trial will examine a behavioral weight loss intervention that uses a "small change" approach fro emerging adult college students with overweight/obesity. The primary aim is to assess student acceptability and clinically-meaningful weight changes.
Detailed description
Forty percent of emerging adults (age 18-25) have overweight or obesity, which is unlikely to remit and has significant health consequences. However, emerging adults are underrepresented in traditional weight loss programs, drop-out at high rates, and have blunted weight loss outcomes. One potential way to improve participation is to offer BWLIs in college health service centers to reduce barriers to participation. Approximately 40% of emerging adults are enrolled in a postsecondary institution and college health centers are used widely by students. Moreover, delivering an intervention with design features that are responsive to emerging adult preferences and lifestyles may also improve intervention effectiveness and attractiveness. The "small change" (SC) approach to weight loss addresses emerging adult barriers to engagement by focusing on reducing calories through a few self-selected, specific changes to current obesogenic behaviors, requiring less time and effort than traditional behavioral weight loss interventions (BWLI) and promoting autonomy and self-efficacy. The SC approach has been used effectively for weight loss in other populations. This randomized controlled pilot study is part of a larger study that aims to develop and refine a novel and effective BWLI based on a SC approach that is designed for emerging adults and for implementation in college health centers, an accessible care setting. The primary aim of this substudy is to assess acceptability and feasibility of the intervention and to get a preliminary understanding of potential clinical benefit for participants.
Interventions
- Behavioral BWLI-College
Behavioral modifications are based on empirically-supported principles for weight loss. Diet recommendations follow a small change approach in which participants will make a series of small, self-selected dietary changes each day (\~100-200 calories) that they build on over the course of the intervention. Physical activity recommendations are to achieve 150-250 weekly minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity with specific goals and rate of progression that are individualized to each par - Behavioral Control
Psychoeducation around dieting myths, healthy eating, and physical activity
Primary outcome measures
- Acceptability [Time frame: 10 weeks]
- Retention [Time frame: 10 weeks]
- Adherence [Time frame: 10 weeks]
- Weight Loss [Time frame: 10 weeks]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- BMI of 25 or greater
- Enrolled at college/university where study will take place
- English-speaking
Exclusion criteria
- History or current diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or alcohol use disorder (current symptoms also assessed at screening using validated screening questionnaires)
- Participation in another formal weight loss program or current utilization of obesity medications
- Current or recent pregnancy
- Psychiatric hospitalization in the past 12 months
- Recent weight loss of 5% body weight or more
- History of bariatric surgery
- Severe food or physical activity restrictions that would interfere with treatment recommendations
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Single blind
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
Study locations
United States · 1 center
- The Miriam Hospital — Providence
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06994923 · 17937323 · K23DK128561