Obesity
Conditions
Brief summary
This study evaluates the efficacy of a mobile telehealth short message service as a facilitator for weight management. Half of the participants will receive a standard care weight management group intervention, while the other half will receive daily text messages via their mobile phone to help facilitate weight loss. It is hypothesized that the intervention group receiving text messages will be as successful as the control group at achieving weight loss over a 3-month period.
Detailed description
Obesity, a chronic progressive disease, has become a major public health concern due to its increasing prevalence and association with many adverse health conditions including type 2 diabetes, many cancers and heart disease. The number of individuals requiring weight management intervention is increasing necessitating the need to explore other initiatives. Developments in health technology are growing in popularity and there is increasing evidence that this type of intervention for obesity can significantly improve clinical outcomes. Mobile phones are a popular means of communication that provide a convenient, inexpensive means to deliver a health technology intervention.Short message service (SMS) by mobile phone has the potential to serve as an intervention medium to promote weight loss that is accessible and easy to use.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALShort Message Text Service
A service designed by professionals inside the National Health Service (NHS) to provide support and advice for participants to manage weight loss. It combines the expertise of the healthcare team and the convenience of the participant's own mobile phone to give prompts and advice to act on. It makes use of the familiar and convenient mobile phone text service 'SMS' to communicate directly with participants.
BEHAVIORALStandard Weight Management Group
A standard Lothian NHS group programme facilitated by a Dietitian
Sponsors
Queen Margaret University
NHS Lothian
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Body mass index \> 35kg/m requiring to lose weight for an operation or having a co-morbidity including diabetes, osteoarthritis, high cholesterol, asthma, heart disease, high blood pressure or sleep apnoea or with a body mass \>40kg/m with no co-morbidities. * Own a mobile phone * Have the ability to use short message service * Have access to weighing scales * Mentally capable of informed consent * Have the ability to read and speak English
Exclusion criteria
* Uncontrolled Hypothyroidism * Poorly controlled psychiatric illness * Current alcohol or drug abuse * Learning disability * Do not own a mobile phone * Do not have access to weighing scales * Does not have the ability to read or speak English
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Weight Loss | 3 months | weight recorded in Kg on a Seca 635 medical digital load cell balance |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Behavioural changes necessary for weight loss | 3 months | Self reported dietary and physical activity changes using 7-day food and exercise diaries |
| Body fat changes | 3 months | Measured using a medically approved and validated scale: Tanita SC-240MA body composition analyser |
| Body Mass index | 3 months | calculated using the formula weight in kg divided by height squared in metres |
| Height | 3months | Height measured using Seca portable stadiometer with a sliding head plate |
Countries
United Kingdom
Outcome results
None listed