Intensive Treatments for Pediatric Obesity: An Acceptability Analogue Study

Abstract

Objective: Stagnant effect sizes in controlled trials of treatment for pediatric obesity have led to calls for “more powerful” interventions. Multisystemic family therapy (MSFT), pharmacological interventions, bariatric surgery, eHealth, and residential treatments all show promise for extending the effectiveness of family-based programs. However, it is not clear if the consumer public would find one intensive approach more acceptable than another. Methods: The current study used treatment acceptability analogue methodology to assess the relative acceptability of the treatments listed above. Vignettes describing an adolescent with obesity suffering from diabetes were administered to 626 undergraduate students (age M = 19.15 ± 1.84). Participants read about the five intensive treatment options including descriptions of expected benefits and side effects. They were then asked to rate the acceptability of each treatment using an adapted version of the Obesity Treatment Acceptability Questionnaire. Results: A two-way ANOVA with repeated-measures on the treatment acceptability factor revealed significant mean differences in acceptability between the treatment approaches F(2.95,1844.41) = 160.028, p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.204). Post-hoc analyses revealed MSFT and eHealth approaches were more acceptable than residential, surgical, and pharmacological approaches. Conclusion: Results indicate consumers prefer approaches that can be conceptualized as increased “dose” of traditional family-based behavior therapy for obesity.