Family-Based Mindful Eating Intervention for Overweight Adolescents

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Overweight, Adolescent Behavior, Family Research, Weight Loss

In brief

With currently 35% of U.S. adolescents being overweight and one in six having metabolic syndrome, adolescent obesity is one of the major global health challenges of the 21st century. Few enduring treatment strategies have been identified in adolescent populations and the majority of standard weight loss programs fail to adequately address the impact of psychological factors on eating behavior and the beneficial contribution of parental involvement in adolescent behavior change. A critical need exists to expand treatment development efforts beyond traditional education and cognitive-behavioral programs and to explore alternative treatment models for adolescent obesity. Meditation-based mindful eating programs may represent a unique and novel scientific approach to the current adolescent obesity epidemic as they address key psychological variables affecting weight. Furthermore, the recent expansion of mindfulness programs to include family relationships shows the immense potential for broadening the customarily individual focus of this intervention to include broader factors thought to influence adolescent health outcomes. Thus, we propose to develop a mindful eating approach to eating behavior and weight loss specifically tailored for adolescents and their families. The first phase of our three phase development process will be devoted to adapting an adolescent protocol (Mindful Eating-A) based on an established mindful eating program currently being used with adult populations. We will then develop a 'family enhanced Mindful Eating-A' (Mindful Eating-A+F) protocol that integrates a family systems perspective. The goal of Mindful Eating-A+F is to expand the focus of Mindful Eating-A to include family factors that influence adolescent eating behaviors. The second design phase will consist of an initial test of both intervention components to provide feedback on usefulness and acceptability (N = 10 families). The final phase will examine the overall efficacy of the optimized Mindful Eating-A+F, relative to the Mindful Eating-A intervention with 30 overweight adolescents (BMI \> 85th percentile) ages 14-17 and at least one parent. Within this examination, post-treatment and 3-month follow-up comparisons across the two treatment approaches will be made and effect sizes within and between treatments will be assessed.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02114190

Run by

Oregon Research Institute

People needed

66

Starts

2014-04-01

Expected to finish

2017-03-01

Last updated by the study team

2017-08-22

Who can join

Age: 14 and older, up to 17. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Adolescent ages 14-17 years old living at home with at least one parent/guardian,
• BMI ≥ 85th percentile,
• assent from adolescent,
• consent from a parent/guardian,
• willingness of one parent/guardian living with adolescent to participate in the study,
• English speaking.

You may not qualify if…

• Adolescent BMI ≥ 40 (requires additional medical attention the intervention is unable to provide),
• previously diagnosed type 1 or type 2 diabetes,
• blood pressure in the range of stage 2 hypertension which requires medication
• treatment which interferes with outcomes related to blood pressure and glucose,
• medications that significantly interfere with weight gain such as oral steroid use greater than two consecutive weeks
• antipsychotic medications,
• participation in a standardized weight loss program within the previous 6 months,
• inability to provide informed assent,
• no parent/guardian consent,
• insufficient reading ability to comprehend the self-administered assessment instruments (approximately 5th grade reading level).

Where it is running

• ORI Center for Family and Adolescent Research — Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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