Is Behavioral Treatment of Obesity Effective - Essay Example

 Is Behavioural Treatment of Obesity Effective? Introduction One of the top health and nutrition concerns in the world is the prevalence of obesity among people of all ages. The prevalence of obesity in developed countries such as the US and the UK is higher compared to poor countries. In the US, the problem of obesity affects a significant part of the population. In fact, there are projections that show obesity could affect up to 42 per cent of Americans by 2030 if the trend persists (Hellmich, 2012). The high prevalence of obesity is a health concern because obesity is a risk factor for a number of diseases and health conditions including diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension among others. Apart from the high cost of treating and managing obesity and the related health effects, the high prevalence of obesity increases morbidity and mortality. The obesity problem has attracted significant attention from multiple stakeholders including governments, health sector, and researchers. This has resulted in the identification of potential treatment strategies, most of which are related to preventive treatment. One of the proposed preventive treatment approaches for obesity is behavioural treatment. Apparently, obesity is widely regarded as a lifestyle health condition that can be effectively managed through altering our lifestyles. With the real health and cost effects of managing obesity, it is important to consider the effectiveness of proposed treatment approaches. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether behavioural treatment of obesity is effective by analysing three peer-reviewed articles on the same subject. Articles Article 1: Internet Delivered Behavioral Obesity Treatment This article presents the details of an empirical study that sought to compare the effectiveness of behavioural treatment for obesity using three delivery methods including via the internet, in-person, and a hybrid of the internet and in-person. The researchers’ primary purpose of the study was to evaluate the comparative efficacy of delivering a comprehensive behaviour treatment for obesity using the three methods. The secondary purpose was the evaluation of perceived social support and treatment adherence of the three treatment delivery methods. To realize these, the researchers recruited 481 overweight adult participants for the longitudinal study which lasted for a period of six months (Harvey-Berino et al., 2010). Overall, the study established that the comprehensive behavioural treatment program was effective in treatment of obesity. In all the three approaches used in delivering the behavioural treatment program, the study established that there was significant weight loss. However, there were significant differences in the efficacy of the three approaches used. The in-person approach has the highest efficacy in terms of weighty loss. The average weight loss for the internet, in-person, and hybrid approaches were 5.5 kilograms, 6.1 kilograms, and 5.5 kilograms respectively. In terms of social support, the in-person approach had the highest level of social support perception (Harvey-Berino et al., 2010). From the assessment of the research, it is clear that the research is of high quality. First, the research is peer-reviewed, which means that it has undergone detailed evaluation by experienced researchers who have ascertained its high quality. Second, the research has validity in that it has actually measured what it intended to measure, which is the comparative efficacies of using the internet, in-person, and hybrid approaches in delivering behavioural treatment program for obesity. Moreover, the research findings meet the generalizability threshold because it used randomized selection of the participants. Article 2: Key Stakeholders’ Perspectives Towards Childhood Obesity Treatment: A Qualitative Study This article presents a qualitative study of the perspectives of different stakeholders regarding the treatment of childhood obesity. The researchers recruited 26 individuals in their study including parents, health professionals, and children. The purpose of the study was to explore the different perspectives of these stakeholders on treatment and intervention designs for childhood obesity. By gathering the perspectives of the participants, the researchers hoped to come up with an overall assessment showing what the main perceptions were (Staniford et al., 2011). One of the main findings from the study was that behavioural based approaches were more effective for treatment of childhood obesity. Specifically, the researchers established that most stakeholders perceived family-based interventions that incorporated behavioural, psychological, and nutritional interventions were necessary. With regard to behavioural interventions, children and parents expressed the need for continuous support in sustaining behavioural changes. However, the health professionals supported behavioural interventions that would help obese individuals to sustain behavioural changes independently (Staniford et al., 2011). The quality of the study is supported by the fact that it has undergone peer review. However, the purposive sampling used to select the study participants could have jeopardised the external validity of the study. With purposive sampling, the researchers selected participants with certain qualities, which is not a true representation of the society. Therefore, the findings could not be generalized to the entire population. Article 3:Parent Predictors of Child Weight Change in Family Based Behavioral Obesity Treatment In this empirical qualitative study, Boutelle, Cafri and Crow (2012), examine the effectiveness of family-based behavioural treatment of child obesity. The primary purpose of the study was to observe the relationship between parenting modelling, including parent weight change and parenting skills, and effective weight loss in children with obesity. To achieve this, the researchers recruited 80 obese/overweight children and their parents from two sites as participants in the five-month treatment program. In evaluating the effectiveness of family-based treatment, the study focused on certain key variables associated with parental involvement such as parenting style, parental encouragement, and parental limitation of child behaviour as well as the changes in child body mass index. With regard to the findings from the study, the main finding was that a parental change in BMI was a strong predictor of child BMI change. Apparently, a unit change in parent BMI resulted in 0.255 BMI reduction in the obese/overweight children. Although other parental factors such as parenting behaviour, encouragement, and limitation of child behaviour were not found to have any significant relationship to weight loss in the obese/overweight children. However, the study notes that this finding does not negate the importance of such parental factors in the behavioural treatment of child obesity (Boutelle, Cafri & Crow, 2012). The quality of this research study is high. The research has validity in that the study participants were selected on a random basis. Additionally, the findings from the research are generalizable. In fact, the findings are similar to findings from previous studies that showed how parental weight loss was related to child weight loss in the behavioural treatment of child obesity. Finally, the study is peer reviewed which further enhances its quality. Comparison The three studies are similar in the sense that they both studied the treatment of obesity with all considering behavioural treatment interventions. Additionally, all the three studies applied empirical methodologies. However, the sample sizes and participants differed. In the first study, the sample population comprised of 481 adults. The second and third studies comprised of smaller sample sizes of 26 and 80 participants respectively. Unlike the first study that sampled adults with obesity/overweight problems, the third study focused on children with obesity/overweight problems. The second study focused on children as well as adults including those without obesity or overweight problems. The treatment of the sample population in the three studies was also different. For example, while the first and third studies involved taking the weight/BMI measurements of the participants, the second study only focused on the responses from the participants. Despite the differences in methodology, the three studies confirmed that behavioural interventions are effective in the prevention and treatment of obesity. From the first study, the findings showed that there was a general reduction in participants’ body weights after the six-month behavioural treatment program. In the second study, it emerged that different stakeholders perceived behavioural intervention as one of the most effective treatment options for obesity. Finally, the last study established that behavioural treatment in the family-based setting was effective in treatment of obesity. Based on the comparison of the three studies, the most reliable is the first study that focused on comprehensive behavioural treatment using in-person, internet, and hybrid approaches. This study focused entirely on behavioural treatment of obesity. Although three delivery methods were used, the findings showed that behavioural treatment is effective irrespective of the delivery method used. Conclusion Based on the findings from the three studies, we have established that behavioural intervention is effective for treatment of obesity. However, such behavioural interventions may not fully effective if used alone. There is need to consider using behavioural interventions alongside other treatment options such as psychological and medical treatment. Additionally, the effectiveness of physical intervention could be affected by other factors such as treatment adherence and support from family or society. Despite these issues, this paper recommends the use of behavioural interventions in the treatment of obesity across all ages. References Boutelle, K. N., Cafri, G., & Crow, S. J. (2012). Parent predictors of child weight change in family based behavioral obesity treatment. Obesity, 20(7), 1539-1543. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/oby.2012.48 Harvey-Berino, J., West, D., Krukowski, R., Prewitt, E., VanBiervliet, A., Ashikaga, T., & Skelly, J. (2010). Internet delivered behavioral obesity treatment. Preventive Medicine, 51(2), 123-128. Hellmich, N. (2012). Obesity could affect 42% of Americans by 2030. USA Today. Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-05-07/obesity-projections-adults/54791430/1 Staniford, L., J., Breckon, J., D., Copeland, R., J., & Hutchison, A. (2011). Key stakeholders’ perspectives towards childhood obesity treatment: A qualitative study. Journal of Child Health Care, 15(3), 230-244. Read More