Parent-Based Treatment for Pediatric Overweight

Rates of pediatric overweight (PO) among Americans are increasing and associated with significant psychological, social, quality of life, and health related outcomes. Because of the broad mental and physical health implications of PO and the difficulty in sustaining weight loss as an adult, it is of interest to find successful methods of weight loss and/or prevention of weight gain for obese children and adolescents. The family unit is a logical and empirically supported point of intervention for PO. Interventions on this level have shown good long term efficacy in young children, but there is very little research on adolescent family intervention. Within the eating disorder literature, there is growing support for the efficacy of family-based interventions (FBI) for adolescents. Given its trans-developmental applicability, focus on family as the unit of intervention, and utility in creating a healthy eating environment, FBI is a logical candidate for adaptation to intervention for PO and intervention for at-risk for overweight youth (FBI-PO). The core of the current project is to test the feasibility and efficacy of an adapted FBI manual for adolescent overweight and at-risk for overweight in an outpatient eating and weight disorders clinic and compare this modality to a minimal nutritional educational control (NEC) condition.