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Families on Track: A Digital Health Behavioral Intervention for Parents Seeking Treatment for Their Child With Obesity

Families on Track: A Digital Health Behavioral Intervention for Parents Seeking Treatment for Their Child With Obesity

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT02767440
Enrollment
50
Registered
2016-05-10
Start date
2016-06-30
Completion date
2017-06-29
Last updated
2017-10-04

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Childhood Obesity, Diabetes, Dyslipidemia, Hypertension, Obesity

Brief summary

Current models of outpatient childhood obesity treatment focus on the child's health habits, with limited efficacy. In part, this may be because childhood obesity is highly sensitive to parental lifestyle habits, who are often not a direct target of child obesity interventions. This study aims to target weight loss among overweight parents of 2-16 year old children with obesity enrolled in the Duke Healthy Lifestyles Program (HL) in order to augment child body mass index reduction. The intervention, Families on Track is a digital health intervention platform using the Interactive Obesity Treatment Approach (iOTA).

Detailed description

Parents in the program will receive the family-based treatment protocol provided by the Healthy Lifestyles clinic. First, families attend a half-day session at the clinic where child anthropometrics and labs are obtained, and nutrition and physical activity group counseling is provided. Height and weight of the primary adult caregiver are measured and BMI is calculated. Second, families return 2 weeks later to meet individually with a pediatric obesity medical provider and a registered dietitian. Thereafter, frequency of visits is determined based on the families needs with a final visit 1 year after starting treatment. The ideal is to have visits with the HL staff at intervals of 4-6 weeks for 5 more visits to complete the primary phase of the program over 6 months. Parents enrolled in the study will also receive the Track intervention. The investigators will use a modified version of the Track intervention, which utilized the Interactive Obesity Treatment Approach (iOTA). iOTA uses a computer algorithm to assign 3-4 personalized behavioral goals known to create an energy deficit to produce weight loss (e.g., sugary drinks, fast food consumption walk 10,000 steps/day, etc). The team at Duke Digital Health has shown that iOTA can be successfully delivered to adults on multiple modalities -- web, text messaging and interactive voice response phone calls. Each week, participants will receive a prompt from the Track intervention system in order to self-monitoring these behaviors goals. These prompts will be delivered either via interactive voice response or text message. Intervention participants will also receive an analog bathroom scale and a pedometer to self-monitor daily weights and steps.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALFamilies on Track Intervention

Parents will receive the standard of care activities at the Healthy Lifestyles clinic at Duke University. They will also receive a modified version of the previously conducted Track intervention, a digital health weight loss intervention for adults in community health centers . The intervention will utilize the Interactive Obesity Treatment Approach (iOTA). iOTA uses a computer algorithm to assign 3 personalized behavioral goals known to create an energy deficit to produce weight loss (e.g., sugary drinks, fast food consumption walk 10,000 steps/day, etc). Participants will track these goals via interactive voice response (IVR) and text messaging technologies each week. They will receive immediate feedback based on self-monitoring data and skills training videos to learn how to make the behavioral changes necessary for weight loss. Intervention participants will also receive an analog bathroom scale and a pedometer to self-monitor daily weights and steps.

Sponsors

Duke University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 60 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Age: 18-60 years * BMI: 25-50 kg/m2 * English speaking * Mobile phone ownership * Willingness to send and receive multiple text messages/day * living in the same household as a Healthy Lifestyles patient ages 2-16

Exclusion criteria

* Current pregnancy or lactation * Prior or planned bariatric surgery Both child and parent participation in other obesity trials - including the evaluation of the Bull City Fit Program at the Healthy Lifestyles program * History of heart attack, stroke, bipolar disorder schizophrenia or recent cancer diagnosis * Plans to relocate within 1 year

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frame
change in parent weight over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 months

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
change in parent waist circumference over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 months
change in parent blood pressure over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 months
change in child lipid panel (total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides) over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 months
change in child glucose, insulin, and HbA1c over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 months
change in child z-BMI over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 months
change in child blood pressure over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 months
change in child cardiovascular fitness/physical conditioningbaseline, 6 monthsmeasured by 3-minute step test, 1-minute recovery heart rate over 6 months
change in parent diet over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 monthsas measured by a Food Frequency Questionnaire
change in parent exercise behaviors over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 monthsas measured by Paffenbarger Exercise Habits Questionnaire
change in parent BMI over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 months
change in child consumption of fruits and vegetables over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 monthsas measured by a Food Frequency Questionnaire
change in child consumption of sugary snacks over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 monthsas measured by a Food Frequency Questionnaire
change in child number of minutes of physical activitybaseline, 6 monthsmeasured by the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children
change in child number of minutes of screen timebaseline, 6 monthsmeasured by the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children
change in parent depression over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 monthsmeasured by Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8)
change in child quality of life over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 monthsmeasured by Sizing Me Up sub-scales
change in child perceived healthy eating and physical activity social/environmental support over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 months
change in parent perceived healthy eating and physical activity social/environmental support over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 months
change in home food environment over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 monthsmeasured by Home Food Inventory
change in child consumption of sugar sweetened beverages over 6 monthsbaseline, 6 monthsas measured by a Food Frequency Questionnaire

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026