Translation of social media obesity treatment into two college campus communities

描述（由申请人提供）：从青春期晚期到成年早期的过渡时期是体重增加的脆弱时期，在这个生命过渡期间超重/肥胖的几率增加了两倍。在50%上大学的青少年中，从入学到毕业，体重平均增加1.7公斤（女性）和4.2公斤（男性）。此外，大约三分之一的大学生已经超重或肥胖。超重和肥胖对健康的影响已得到充分确认；然而，这一人群的代谢风险在很大程度上没有得到研究，代谢功能障碍的诊断值得关注：26-40%的大学生已经有代谢综合征的一种异常成分。尽管存在这些公共健康风险和负面健康后果，但针对新兴成年人（18-26岁）的基于证据的肥胖治疗方案仍然存在差距，并且可以在大学校园中使用。大学校园是开展肥胖治疗项目的理想场所。截至2009年，70.1%的高中毕业生（包括GED获得者）进入了大学。此外，18-19岁的青少年中有50%进入了大学。这项拟议的研究基于一项有前景的随机对照试验（RCT）的试点数据，该试验对57名大学生进行了研究，证明了社交媒体提供的减肥治疗的初步效果。据我们所知，我们的随机对照试验是第一个对大学生进行社交媒体减肥治疗的研究。这项研究的下一步是研究这种类型的计划是否可以翻译到其他大学校园社区。因此，我们建议将两所大学（乔治华盛顿大学和马萨诸塞波士顿大学）的450名超重/肥胖大学生（18- 26岁）随机分配到两种社交媒体减肥治疗（定制或目标）或接触控制中的一种。社交媒体治疗包括提供社交支持的Facebook群组、联系和干预内容，以及每日短信。我们认为，使用社交媒体作为干预工具将吸引习惯于使用技术的这一年龄组。评估将在基线、基线后6个月、12个月和18个月进行，主要结果是18个月时体重减轻。第二个目的是评估那些在18个月内保持至少5%体重减轻的参与者的代谢危险因素的变化。最后，我们将开展额外的形成性工作来评估这一干预措施在大学校园实施的可行性，包括以PRISM（实用、稳健的实施和可持续发展模型）模型为指导的成本评估以及可持续性基础设施。这项研究的结果有可能显著影响大学校园肥胖治疗服务的提供。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The transitional period from late adolescence to early adulthood is a vulnerable period for weight gain, with a twofold increase in overweight/obesity during this life transition. Among the 50% of adolescents who attend college, weight gain averages 1.7 kg (females) and 4.2 kg (males) from matriculation to graduation. These increases are compounded by the fact that about one-third of college students are already overweight or obese. The health consequences of overweight and obesity are well established; however, metabolic risks are largely unstudied in this population, with undiagnosed metabolic dysfunction of concern: 26-40% of college students already have one abnormal component of the Metabolic Syndrome. Despite these public health risks and negative health consequences, a gap exists for evidence-based obesity treatment programs targeted to emerging adults (18-26y) and available on college campuses. College campuses make ideal locations from which to launch obesity treatment programs. As of 2009, 70.1% of recent high school completers, including GED recipients, enrolled in college. Additionally, 50% of all adolescents ages 18-19 years old are enrolled in college. The proposed study is based on promising pilot data of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of 57 college students which demonstrated the initial efficacy of a social media delivered weight loss treatment. To our knowledge, our RCT was the first to examine social media weight loss treatments for college students. The next step in this research is to examine whether this type of program can be translated to other college campus communities. Thus, we propose to randomly assign 450 overweight/obese college students (ages 18- 26) enrolled at two colleges (George Washington University and University of Massachusetts-Boston) to one of two social media weight loss treatments (Tailored or Targeted) or a contact control. The social media treatments consist of Facebook groups to provide social support, connectedness and intervention content, as well as daily text messages. We posit that the use of a social media as an intervention tool will appeal to this age group who are accustomed to technology use. Assessments will be conducted at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months post baseline, with the primary outcome being weight loss at 18 months. The secondary aim is to evaluate changes in metabolic risk factors among those participants who have maintained at least 5% weight loss at 18 months. Finally, we will conduct additional formative work to evaluate the implementation feasibility of this intervention on college campuses, including an assessment of costs as well as the sustainability infrastructure using the PRISM (Practical, Robust Implementation and Sustainability Model) model as a guide. The results of this study have the potential to significantly impact the delivery of obesity treatment services on college campuses.