Learning Theory to Improve Obesity Treatment
- Conditions
- Obesity
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Single food Cue Exposure TreatmentBehavioral: Partial Reinforcement - Enhanced Cue Exposure TreatmentBehavioral: Partial Reinforcement -Consistent Cue Exposure TreatmentBehavioral: Multiple food Cue Exposure Treatment
- Registration Number
- NCT01708785
- Lead Sponsor
- University of California, San Diego
- Brief Summary
The purpose of this study is to optimize an obesity treatment program targeting overweight 8-12 year old children using "Cue Exposure Training".
- Detailed Description
The goal of the Cue Exposure program is to train children to resist cues to eat unhealthy foods. Through a series of experimental studies, the investigators will evaluate how many weekly treatment visits there should be, whether children should be exposed to a single food or multiple foods during treatment, whether to use partial reinforcement or not, whether visits should be daily or weekly, and whether the exposures should be in single or multiple contexts. The investigators will be recruiting parent-child dyads in the San Diego community to participate in 8 to 16 weekly or daily treatment sessions either in their home, community center, or our lab, depending on the treatment arm. Parents and children will complete baseline and post-treatment assessments consisting of collecting psychophysiological data, completing laboratory tasks, and completing questionnaires. The investigators will be evaluating which treatment condition reduces overeating (as measured by our laboratory tasks).
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 230
- Response to an advertisement for the study,
- An overweight or obese child in the family who is between the ages of 8 and 13,
- The 8-13 year old child must be above the 85th BMI % for age and gender,
- Parent willing to participate and attend all meetings,
- Parent who can read at a minimum of a 5th grade level in English,
- Parent and child willing to commit to attendance and assessments,
- Child who eats in the absence of hunger.
- Major child psychiatric disorder diagnoses,
- An obese child over the 99.9th BMI %
- Child or parent diagnoses of diabetes for which physician supervision of diet is needed or diagnosis of serious current physical diseases (such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, lupus) which could significantly decrease their ability to participate in the intervention (parent report),
- Child taking a medication that can affect cognitive functioning, such as attention, concentration, or mental status.
- Family with restrictions on types of food, such as food allergies, or religious or ethnic practices that limit the foods available in the home (these restrictions affect their ability participate in the food exposures because it would limit the variety of foods available to do exposures with),
- Child with an active eating disorder (based on parent and child self-report)
- Major parent psychiatric or eating disorder.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Multiple contexts Partial Reinforcement -Consistent Cue Exposure Treatment Subjects will be exposed to food cues in multiple contexts. 8 treatment sessions Multiple food Cue Exposure Treatment Subjects receive 8 treatment sessions. 16 treatment sessions Single food Cue Exposure Treatment Subjects receive 16 treatment sessions Single context Partial Reinforcement -Consistent Cue Exposure Treatment Subjects will be exposed to food cues in a single context. 8 treatment sessions Single food Cue Exposure Treatment Subjects receive 8 treatment sessions. 16 treatment sessions Multiple food Cue Exposure Treatment Subjects receive 16 treatment sessions Single context Partial Reinforcement - Enhanced Cue Exposure Treatment Subjects will be exposed to food cues in a single context. Multiple contexts Partial Reinforcement - Enhanced Cue Exposure Treatment Subjects will be exposed to food cues in multiple contexts.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Change in overeating (Eating in the absence of hunger) from baseline at an average of 3 months and 6 months Change from baseline at an average of 3 months and 6 months Reduce overeating or eating in the absence of hunger in response to food cues. Habituation to food cues.
Change in child weight Change from baseline at an average of 3 and 6 months BMI, BMIz
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Change in psychophysiological measures of responsivity to food cues from baseline at average of 3 and 6 months Change from baseline at average of 3 and 6 months Salivation/swallowing using EMG (electromyography), skin conductance, heart rate and heart rate variability.
Change in attention to food cues from baseline at average of 3 and 6 months Change from baseline at average of 3 and 6 months Reduce attention to food cues, redirect attention to neutral (non-food cues). Measured by computer program measuring response time
Change in parent weight from baseline at average of 3 and 6 months Change from baseline at average of 3 and 6 months Measured by BMI (Body Mass Index)
Change in impulsivity/Inhibition from baseline at average of 3 and 6 months Change from baseline at average of 3 and 6 months Reduce impulsive behavior response to both food and non-food cues. Measured by behavioral tasks
Change in level of self-reported cravings in response to palatable food cues from baseline at average of 3 and 6 months Change from baseline at average of 3 and 6 months Participants will rate their cravings on a scale of 1-10.
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Center for Health Eating and Activity Research
🇺🇸La Jolla, California, United States