Translation of social media obesity treatment into two college campus communities

描述(申请人提供)：从青春期晚期到成年早期的过渡期是体重增加的脆弱时期，在这一人生过渡期间，超重/肥胖的人数增加了两倍。在50%的上大学的青少年中，从入学到毕业，体重平均增加了1.7公斤(女性)和4.2公斤(男性)。约三分之一的大学生已经超重或肥胖，这一事实加剧了这些增长。超重和肥胖对健康的影响是众所周知的；然而，代谢风险在很大程度上没有在这一人群中进行研究，未诊断的代谢功能障碍令人担忧：26%-40%的大学生已经有代谢综合征的一个异常成分。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)并在大学校园提供的循证肥胖治疗计划存在缺口。大学校园是开展肥胖治疗计划的理想场所。截至2009年，包括GED获得者在内的70.1%的新近完成高中学业的学生进入了大学。此外，所有18-19岁的青少年中，有50%的人在读大学。这项研究是基于一项对57名大学生进行的随机对照试验(RCT)的试点数据，该试验证明了社交媒体减肥疗法的初步效果。据我们所知，我们的RCT是第一个研究社交媒体对大学生减肥疗法的人。这项研究的下一步是检查这种类型的程序是否可以被翻译到其他大学校园社区。因此，我们建议将在两所大学(乔治华盛顿大学和马萨诸塞大学波士顿分校)注册的450名超重/肥胖大学生(年龄在18-26岁)随机分配到两种社交媒体减肥疗法中的一种(定制的或有针对性的)或接触对照组。社交媒体治疗包括Facebook群组，以提供社会支持、连接性和干预内容，以及日常短信。我们假设，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段的人。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个月后体重减轻。第二个目标是评估那些在18个月内保持至少5%体重减轻的参与者的代谢风险因素的变化。最后，我们将开展额外的形成性工作，以评估这一干预措施在大学校园实施的可行性，包括评估成本以及以PRISM(实用、稳健实施和可持续发展模型)模型为指导的可持续基础设施。这项研究的结果有可能对大学校园肥胖治疗服务的提供产生重大影响。

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.