All articles tagged with #behavioral interventions
A study finds that encouraging people to imagine future impacts of climate change on themselves and loved ones is the most effective way to motivate climate action and information sharing, while providing personal carbon footprint info is less effective. The research highlights the importance of future-oriented and personal relevance strategies in overcoming psychological barriers to climate action.
The US Preventive Services Task Force has released draft guidelines recommending that doctors intervene to help children with obesity through comprehensive, intensive behavioral interventions. The guidelines focus on lifestyle interventions and do not recommend weight loss medications or surgery, although the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends both options for some patients. The task force's recommendations aim to address the increasing prevalence of obesity-related health problems in children, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. However, some doctors argue that behavioral interventions alone may be challenging to provide and access, given the time commitment required. The guidelines are currently open for public comment before finalization.
Pennington Biomedical Research Center and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have received $13.8 million in funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to conduct a five-year study on childhood obesity in rural and minority communities in Louisiana and Tennessee. The study aims to determine the optimal "dose" of behavioral interventions for treating childhood obesity, including the number and length of sessions. Researchers plan to enroll 900 parent-child pairs and compare different intervention combinations to reduce a child's weight and improve their overall lifestyle.
Obesity affects approximately 42% of US adults and is associated with various health conditions. Evidence-based obesity treatment includes behavioral interventions, nutrition, physical activity, pharmacotherapy, and metabolic/bariatric procedures. Behavioral interventions can lead to 5-10% weight loss, while GLP-1 agonists and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide/GLP-1 receptor agonists can achieve 8-21% weight loss. Bariatric surgery can result in 25-30% weight loss. Comprehensive obesity care plans should be tailored to individual patients.