Adolescent Weight Management Intervention in a Nonclinical Setting: Changes in Eating-Related Cognitions and Depressive Symptoms.
Katherine E Darling, Diana Rancourt, E Whitney Evans and 2 others
PMID 33660668WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents in a community weight program showed no worsening of eating cognitions or depression.
Girls reported reduced shape and weight concerns. Restrained eating increased. No group differences emerged between standard and enhanced curricula.
Key findings
01Participation in the community-based weight program did not worsen overall eating-related cognitions or depressive symptoms, but girls reported significant reductions in shape and weight concerns.
02Dietary restraint scores increased significantly from baseline to post-treatment across the whole sample.
03There were no significant differences between the standard and enhanced intervention groups on any psychosocial outcome.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was a secondary analysis of an intervention development trial with no true control group, so changes cannot be attributed solely to the intervention versus natural history or regression to the mean. The sample was underpowered for psychosocial outcomes, as power calculations were based on weight outcomes. The EDE-Q restraint subscale had poor reliability at baseline. There was a higher proportion of females, limiting power to detect sex differences. Psychosocial data were not collected at the 10-month maintenance follow-up. One participant reported vomiting to control weight at follow-up, indicating potential risk for a subset of youth.
Declared interests
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and non-US government funding. The intervention was a collaboration between UnitedHealth Group and YMCA of the USA, though the paper does not explicitly state these organizations designed or wrote the manuscript.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the program is safe for all adolescents. While mean scores did not worsen, the proportion of teens reporting very elevated depressive symptoms increased, and one participant reported purging behaviors at follow-up, suggesting some individuals may be at risk for adverse psychosocial outcomes.