Page 137 - Go4it

18 months follow-up. This summary presents the main findings from the Go4it study.
Summary of main findings
Behavioural and social-emotional functioning
As part of the regular care of the obesity clinic completed the obese adolescents the Youth Self Report (YSR) and their parents the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) to asses behavioural and social-emotional functioning of their child. Our sample of obese adolescents experienced serious behaviour problems and social- emotional problems, which was confirmed by their parents. Mean YSR and CBCL scores for all problemscales were significantly higher in our sample of obese adolescents in comparison with a healthy peer group, except for the externalizing scale (including disobedience, aggression, temper tantrums) of the YSR. Parents reported more problems than their adolescents on all problem scales. There were no significant differences between western and non-western adolescents, except for the attention problem scale. The western adolescents scored significantly higher, which was confirmed by the parents (Chapter 2).
Compliance
Compliance during the Go4it study was a big challenge. Of the adolescents assigned to the intervention group, 59% attended at least 5 of the 7 Go4it sessions. Reasons for not attending the Go4it sessions included lack of motivation to change dietary habits, lack of belief of parents in their child’s possible success to lose weight, previous unsuccessful dieting experiences, travel distance, and the limited time of working parents and their adolescents. Seventy-two percent of the parents attended the first parent session and 55% attended the second session. In the control group at 6 months follow-up 48% of the adolescents had never visited a dietician, 8% visited a dietician once, 12% twice, 14% three or more times. The main reason for noncompliance in the control group was a lack of motivation because of previous unsuccessful dieting experiences with or without a dietician (Chapter 3).
Effect of the Go4it group treatment after 18 months follow-up
At the 18 months measurement, the Go4it group had a mean decrease of 0.16 BMIsds in comparison to the control group. Ethnicity significantly modified this beneficial treatment effect, with a significant BMIsds reduction of 0.35 in obese adolescents of western descent versus no significant treatment effect in those of non-western descent. There were no significant treatment effects on body composition or metabolic components. Among western adolescents Go4it had also a significant beneficial effect on systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and HDL cholesterol at 18 months follow-up. Among adolescents in the intervention group who complied well (attended ≥ 5 of the 7 Go4it sessions) a
Summary
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