Abstract
For many families, perceived extremes of intensive weight loss programsmay be aversive. Since 2004, the ACT! Actively Changing Together program has aimed to strike a balance or “just right” level of participation to engage diverse, low-income families in healthy behavior changes, while also being affordable to continually operate in the community. Improvement efforts are ongoing to develop a sustainablemodel focused on secondary prevention. We evaluated outcomes after changes to the programweremade to increase sustainability, reach more youth and reduce costs. Between 2010-2011, youth aged 8-14 years and their parents enrolling in ACT! at 10 geographically and demographically diverse sites were eligible for this pre-post study. Groups met 90 minutes weekly for 12 weeks. Outcome measures assessed pre and post program included BMI z-score, health behaviors, quality of life (PedsQL), and fitness. Process measures included attendance and satisfaction. Group means were compared by paired T-test. From 100 youth, 73% percent completed the program (attending week 11 ). Complete pre-post data were available for 62 youth and 65 parents. BMI z-score decreased for 37% of youth, and stabilized for 48%. Parents’ report of their home nutrition and activity environments and role modeling behaviors improved (p 0.01). PedsQL youth (p 0.01) and parent (p 0.01) reports also improved. Overall results were comparable to data from the longer, more resource-intensive program (30 sessions).We found promising health and behavioral improvements among ACT! participants in a shorter version of our original program. ACT! successfully engaged families and can be readily disseminated in similar settings.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
