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Post-treatment phone contact: a weight maintenance strategy in obese youngsters

International Journal of Obesity volume 29, pages 543–546 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of post-treatment phone contact on weight-loss maintenance and activity behaviour in obese youngsters. In all, 20 patients who completed a weight reduction program were randomly assigned to a 5-month maintenance programme (experimental) or control condition. Following the maintenance programme, patients sent a weekly activity diary to the therapist, who in turn phoned them biweekly to discuss their activities. Body weight, stature and physical activity were measured before and after the maintenance programme. The control group showed a continuous increase in overweight after initial treatment, while the experimental group showed a steep increase during the summer holidays (no intervention), but this increase slowed down during the maintenance programme (P<0.05). Moderate-to-high intensity activities increased during the maintenance programme in the experimental group, but decreased in the control group (P<0.001). In conclusion, post-treatment phone contact appears to have the potential to be an effective maintenance strategy in obese youngsters.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr Franckx for supporting this study and to Mieke De Roo and Anneleen Vindevogel for their assistance in collecting the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    B Deforche, I De Bourdeaudhuij & J Bouckaert

  2. MPC Zeepreventorium, De Haan, Belgium

    A Tanghe & P Debode

  3. School of Human Movement Studies, Queensland University of Technology, QLD, Australia

    A P Hills

Authors
  1. B Deforche
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  2. I De Bourdeaudhuij
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  3. A Tanghe
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  4. P Debode
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  5. A P Hills
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  6. J Bouckaert
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Correspondence to B Deforche.

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Deforche, B., De Bourdeaudhuij, I., Tanghe, A. et al. Post-treatment phone contact: a weight maintenance strategy in obese youngsters. Int J Obes 29, 543–546 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802924

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