FLOWFamily Lifestyle Overweight Prevention Program: Evaluation of a Weight Management Program for Mexican American Youth

The overall objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of a behavioral, family-based weight management program and a self-help only group for the prevention of obesity in adolescents. The treatments are; Self Help(SH) Instructions to follow a 12-week self help manual for healthy eating and increased physical activity; Intensive Intervention (II) 12 Weeks of daily and 7 Monthly sessions consisting of nutrition instruction, physical activity training, and behavior modification instruction. One hundred (BMI-for-age = 85th - 97.5th % or parent BMI > 25) adolescent males and females will be recruited into the study and randomly assigned to SH) Instructions to follow the self help manual for healthy eating and increased physical activity; II) 12 Weeks daily and 7 Monthly sessions consisting of nutrition instruction, physical activity training, and behavior modification instruction for one year. Participants will receive final measurements at the end of year 1 and intermediate evaluations at month 6. Given that the interventions decline in intensity and frequency after 3 months, the 1 year assessments will help evaluate which treatment was most effective in maintaining weight losses with minimal contact. SH will consist of participants being instructed to follow a 12-week parent/child based self help book for weight loss, but they will not receive any active intervention. The manual (TRIM Kids, Sothern, von Almen, \& Schumacher, 2001) that the families will follow is a treatment program which uses a family-based, behavioral intervention that focuses on diet and exercise with instructions and guidelines designed to assist the family in maintaining weight losses. II will consist of 12 Weeks of daily and 7 Monthly sessions consisting of nutrition instruction, physical activity training, and behavior modification instruction over the 1-year period. Body mass index (BMI), blood analyses (i.e. cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin, glucose, C-reactive protein, mono-unsaturated fatty acids, and inflammatory cytokines), analysis of eating and exercise behavior, and eating and exercise self-efficacy measures will be taken throughout the study. The focus of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an active, behaviorally designed intervention for the prevention of adult obesity.