MedPath

Acceptance-based Care for Child Eating and Physical Activity Treatment

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Executive Function
Pediatric Obesity
Self-Regulation
Interventions
Behavioral: Acceptance-based Behavioral Treatment (ABBT)
Registration Number
NCT03368716
Lead Sponsor
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to develop and pilot test a new type of patient-centered, family-based treatment for children aged 8-12 with obesity and their caregivers. The treatment will focus specifically on improving children's self-regulation (SR) skills to help them better manage their feelings, behaviors, and thoughts to help them live a healthier lifestyle.

Detailed Description

We aim to: (1) To determine the treatment needs of children ages 8-12 with obesity and their families with a focus on understanding cognitive function challenges that are related to self-regulation (using focus groups i.e. FG and feedback sessions i.e. FB). (2) To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of this novel family-based treatment. (3) Explore potential associations between pediatric cardiovascular (CVD) risk factors and self-regulation in children with and without overweight or obesity. (4) To refine the F-ABT protocol and to maximize participant feasibility, acceptability, safety, and tolerability of F-ABT. (5) To provide pilot, proof-of-concept, and preliminary efficacy data of beneficial effects of F-ABT on SR and BMI in children with SR deficits and their caregivers.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
184
Inclusion Criteria
  • Children who: (1) have a BMI ≥ 85th percentile; (2) are ≥8 and ≤12 years old at the beginning of treatment; (3) can read, write, and speak English, along with their caregiver; (4) plan to stay living in the local area during the study period; (5) have a consenting caregiver who can commit to all study procedures and provide reliable travel.
Read More
Exclusion Criteria
  • Children who:(1) comorbid developmental/intellectual disability/traumatic brain injury/other identified condition known to substantially impact EF and/or weight management; (2) taking medication that is known to affect weight or appetite, (3) recent infection that may cause confounds of acute inflammation, (4) have an uncorrected visual or hearing impairment that would prohibit completion of cognitive testing, and (5) are unable to use an iPad with appropriate training for cognitive testing. The children without obesity (n=32) will have "normal-range" BMI scores (5th ≤BMI percentile< 85th) but otherwise follow the same inclusion/exclusion criteria.
Read More

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Acceptance-based Behavioral TreatmentAcceptance-based Behavioral Treatment (ABBT)Family acceptance-based behavioral treatment (ABBT) will be piloted with 16 child-caregiver pairs. At weeks 0 (pre-treatment), 9 (mid-treatment), and 18 (post-treatment), feedback regarding the feasibility and acceptability will be collected from participants through surveys and semi-structured group interviews to refine the family ABBT protocol.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
InsulinBaseline to 4.5 months

uU/ml

LeptinBaseline to 4.5 months

ng/mL

Fasting glucoseBaseline to 4.5 months

mg/dl

Blood pressureBaseline to 4.5 months

Systolic over diastolic

High-density lipoprotein (HDL-C) cholesterolBaseline to 4.5 months

mg/dl

Change in child body mass indexBaseline to 4.5 months

Child height and weight measurements will be converted to zBMI using CDC age and sex specific scales.

Change in Health-Related Quality of LifeBaseline to 4.5 months

Sizing Me Up© \& Sizing Them Up© are validated obesity-specific self-report and parent-report measures, respectively, of health-related quality of life for children 5-13 years old that measure functioning in a variety of areas (e.g., emotional, physical, teasing/marginalization). The Total Score will be used as the outcome, which is a scaled score ranging from 0-100 with higher scores representing better quality of life.

CortisolBaseline to 4.5 months

ug/dl

Low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) cholesterolBaseline to 4.5 months

mg/dl

Change in child objective executive functionBaseline to 4.5 months

Performance-based EF will be tested using the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery which measures executive function (inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility), attention, episodic memory, language, processing speed, and working memory. T-scores will be used for each domain. Higher t-scores indicate better function.

Change in child subjective executive functionBaseline to 4.5 months

Subjective EF will be measured using the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function. The Global Severity Index will be used which is interpreted using T-scores. Higher t-scores indicate better function.

TriglycerideBaseline to 4.5 months

mg/dl

Hemoglobin A1CBaseline to 4.5 months

Percentage

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-a)Baseline to 4.5 months

pg/ml

Interleukin (IL-6)Baseline to 4.5 months

pg/ml

High-sensitivity reactive protein (hsCRP)Baseline to 4.5 months

mg/L

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Waist circumferenceBaseline to 4.5 months

The Gulick II anthropometric tape will be utilized to measure children's waist circumference, which will be converted to national published standardized (z) scores.

MindfulnessBaseline to 4.5 months

The Child Acceptance and Mindfulness Measure (CAMM) is a 10-item measure of children's awareness and acceptance of their own private events or internal experiences. Items are reverse scored on a 5-point Likert scale. Higher scores correspond to higher levels of mindfulness.

Psychological flexibilityBaseline to 4.5 months

The Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y) is a 17-item self-report measure for to assess psychological inflexibility in children. Items are scored on a 5-point Likert scale and summed for a total score ranging between 0-68. Higher scores are indicative of greater psychological inflexibility. The Parental Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (PAAQ) is a 15-item measure that evaluates parents' experiential acceptance and action tendencies in the context of their relationship with their children. The Total score is used which is a sum of all items which are rated on a 7-point Likert scale. Higher scores represent a greater degree of parental experiential avoidance.

Child eating behaviorBaseline to 4.5 months

The Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire is a 35-item parent proxy-report measure of eating behavior producing 8 subscales: responsiveness to food, enjoyment of food, satiety responsiveness, slowness in eating, fussiness, emotional overeating, emotional undereating, desire for drinks. Items are scored on a 5-point Likert scale and the mean score of each subscale is used. Higher scores indicate more eating behaviors in a certain domain.

Child body fat percentBaseline to 4.5 months

The Tanita SC-240 BIA device has been validated for use with children to assess total body fat to the nearest 0.1%. Total body fat percent will be standardized using age and sex specific CDC conversions.

Dietary behaviorBaseline to 4.5 months

Child and parent dietary habits will be assessed via self-report throughout the intervention using the online USDA SuperTracker software.

Physical activity behaviorBaseline to 4.5 months

Child and parent physical activity habits will be assessed via self-report throughout the intervention using the online USDA SuperTracker software.

Impact of the food environmentBaseline to 4.5 months

The Children's Power of Food Scale is a 15-item self-report assessment of the psychological impact of living in food-abundant environments. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale and summed to create a total score. Higher scores reflect greater responsiveness to the food environment.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Alabama at Birmingham

🇺🇸

Birmingham, Alabama, United States

© Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved by MedPath