Abstract
BackgroundWe developed a Dutch outpatient multidisciplinary group treatment (Go4it) for obese adolescents, including cognitive behavioural therapy and education on healthy dietary and physical activity behaviour. This study examined the effect of Go4it on Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL).MethodsAt our outpatient paediatric obesity clinic, obese adolescents (n = 122, 11–18 years) were randomly assigned to 1) Go4it, 7 sessions with an interval of 2 weeks or 2) current regular care consisting of referral to a dietician in the home care setting (controls). Linear mixed model analysis was performed to evaluate the intervention effects on HRQoL at 6 and 18-month follow-ups. HRQoL indicators included the Child Health Questionnaire, the Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ Version 4.0 (PedsQL™4.0), and the Body Esteem Scale (BES).ResultsIn total, 95 adolescents (Go4it 57, controls 38) were included in the current analysis with a mean age of 14.5 ± 1.7 and mean BMI-SDS of 2.9 ± 0.5. At baseline, all participants experienced lower levels of physical and psychosocial well-being compared to a normal weight reference group. At the 18 month follow-up, we found small but beneficial intervention effects on all subscales of the PedsQL™4.0 and BES questionnaires. Two subscales improved significantly; i.e., physical health (between group difference 5.4; 95%CI: 0.3; 10.6), and school functioning (between group difference 7.4; 95%CI: 1.6; 13.2).ConclusionObese adolescents experienced lower HRQoL than their healthy peers. The Go4it intervention had small beneficial effects on HRQoL compared to the current regular care practices for obese adolescents.Trial registrationNetherlands Trial Register: ISRCTN27626398, METC number: 05.134 (WMO, monocenter).
Highlights
We developed a Dutch outpatient multidisciplinary group treatment (Go4it) for obese adolescents, including cognitive behavioural therapy and education on healthy dietary and physical activity behaviour
At 18 months two subjects from the control group were excluded from the analyses, one developed type 1 diabetes and another was diagnosed with acute rheumatism
No significant differences were found in baseline characteristics between Go4it and control group, nor between the 95 study participants and the 27 adolescents who did not fill in the baseline questionnaires
Summary
We developed a Dutch outpatient multidisciplinary group treatment (Go4it) for obese adolescents, including cognitive behavioural therapy and education on healthy dietary and physical activity behaviour. The World Health Organization defines QoL as “individuals’ perceptions of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns [6]”. It incorporates the person’s physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships, and their relationship to salient features of their environment in a complex way [6]
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