Guided Imagery Intervention for Obese Latino Adolescents

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Obesity, Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome

In brief

Guided imagery, a mind-body complementary/alternative treatment modality, offers promise to reduce stress and promote lifestyle behavior change to reduce diabetes and heart disease risk in obese Latino adolescents. The overall purpose of this study was to determine whether guided imagery, could reduce diabetes risk in obese Latino adolescents undergoing a lifestyle intervention. The specific objectives were: 1) To pilot test a new 12-week lifestyle intervention in obese Latino adolescents, in order to determine the effects of the mind-body technique of Interactive Guided ImagerySM, over and above those of healthy lifestyle education, on eating and physical activity behaviors, stress and stress biomarkers, and hormonal markers of diabetes risk; and 2) To explore the way that changes in stress produced by the intervention were associated with changes in hormonal markers of diabetes risk, particularly insulin resistance. The investigators hypothesized that participants who received guided imagery program in addition to the healthy lifestyle education would show greater improvements in insulin resistance, physical activity, dietary intake, and stress, than those receiving the healthy lifestyle education without the guided imagery. The investigators further hypothesized that reductions in stress due to the intervention would be associated with improvements in insulin resistance, a major hormonal marker of diabetes risk. For this study, obese, Latino adolescents (age 14-17) were randomized to receive either 12 weekly sessions of the lifestyle education plus guided imagery program, or lifestyle education plus a digital storytelling computer program (as a control). Outcome measures were assessed before and after the 12-week intervention, comparing the differences between the intervention groups behavioral (eating and physical activity behaviors), biological (insulin resistance and stress hormones), and psychological (stress) outcomes.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT01895595

Run by

University of Southern California

People needed

51

Starts

2007-01-01

Expected to finish

2008-12-01

Last updated by the study team

2013-07-10

Who can join

Age: 14 and older, up to 17. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Age 14-17, girls and boys; enrolled/attending high school
• Latino ethnicity (self-reported all 4 grandparents of Latino heritage);
• Obese: BMI > 95th percentile for age and gender
• Live within 10 mile radius of medical center

You may not qualify if…

• Participation in any weight loss program, or weight loss of 5% or more of body weight, within the 6 months preceding entry to study
• Regular participation (present or past) in mind-body stress reduction/ relaxation practices such as meditation, hypnotherapy, yoga, biofeedback, etc.
• Serious chronic illness; or physical, cognitive or behavioral disability that would prevent ability to fully receive intervention.
• Prior diagnosis of medical condition or medication that may effect body composition or insulin sensitivity/secretion (e.g. diabetes, untreated hypothyroidism, prednisone).
• Prior diagnosis of clinical eating disorder or psychiatric disorder.
• Lack of fluency in English.
• Pregnancy
• Habitual or frequent alcohol or illicit drug use
• Participation on interscholastic athletic team during period of intervention.
• Scheduling conflicts preventing attendance for 12 sequential weeks.

Where it is running

• University of Southern California — Los Angeles, California, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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