Promoting Weight Loss and Psychological Well-being in Obese Patients
Condition: Obesity
MeSH terms: Weight Loss
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The goal of the proposed research is to assess the effects of a sequential combination of
      lifestyle and well-being intervention on weight loss and psychological well-being. It is
      hypothesized that psychological well-being promotion as an adjunct to life-style intervention
      will outperform life style intervention alone in promoting weight loss and psychological
      well-being in obese individuals.
    

Detailed description: 
      The present study is a longitudinal, single blind, randomized controlled pilot trial. The
      participants will be recruited at the Center of Metabolism Diseases and Clinical Dietetics of
      Sant'Orsola Hospital in Bologna, directed by Prof. Giulio Marchesini Reggiani, after approval
      of the Ethics Committee of Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria of Bologna.

      Patients attending the Center of Metabolism Diseases and Clinical Dietetics during the
      enrollment period will be screened for inclusion and exclusion criteria by care coordinators
      or clinicians. Eligible patients will be required to sign the informed consent form and the
      consent form for personal data processing. The researchers will be in charge of explaining
      the project to make sure that it is fully understood by the patients.

      During the first 3 months, all the participants will undergo a behavioral program focusing on
      lifestyle modification. The participants who accomplish the program for life-style
      modification will be randomly assigned to either the control group or the experimental group.
      Generalized block randomization will be carried out by a computer program (the Random
      Allocation Software 2.0), with an allocation ratio of 1:1.

      Participants in the experimental group will receive a four-session intervention on
      psychological well-being. Each session will last one hour and will be offered weekly, based
      on the principles of Well-Being Therapy. Patients in the control group will only receive a
      treatment as usual (TAU), according to the instructions given by their clinicians. Data will
      be collected for each participant through questionnaires and interviews at baseline, at the
      end of the life-style intervention, at the end of the well-being intervention, and at 6
      months of follow-up after the intervention. Given the nature of this study, it will not be
      possible for participants and treatment delivers to be blinded. Trained researchers, masked
      to the experimental allocation of patients, will perform measurements and analyses of the
      data to minimize potential bias.
    

Intervention name(s): cognitive-behavioral life style intervention; wellbeing intervention; treatment as usual
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral; Other
Intervention description(s): Cognitive Behavioral life-style modification: The intervention will be composed of 12 weekly sessions. Each session will last about two hours and will be administered in a group setting (maximum 20 participants). During the first two sessions, a clinician will introduce the program to the participants and motivate them to make life-style changes.In the next eight sessions a dietician will provide participants with basics of nutrition and will coach them to use a structured diary to monitor their eating behavior and physical activity. Next, a physician will introduce to the patients various weight loss surgeries in terms of the adverse events, indications and effects of each option.The last session will be held by a psychologist and will focus on providing participants with useful strategies to promote healthy eating habits and physical activity, including problem solving and goal setting.; This program will consist of 4 weekly group-based sessions and each meeting will last about two hours. During the sessions, participants will be coached how to self-monitor their well-being episodes in everyday life, especially those associated with life-style change, by means of a structured diary. Patients will be then ecounraged to discuss their well-being experiences during group sessions, focusing on dysfunctional thoughts/beliefs interrupting them, fostering the identification of more functional thoughts. The psychologist will also teach them how to promote well-being situations through behavioral exercises and will introduce to the participants relevant psychological well-being dimensions (based on Carol Ryff's multidimensional model) associated with patients' experiences emerged during the treatment.; The treatment as usual will involve any recommendation given to the participants by their physicians, including diet, physical activity and medication.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: obese patients; psychological well being; weight loss; depression; psychological distress; life-style intervention; demoralization