1. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do it) program.
2. The study was set up as a randomized control trial. There were a total of 117 participants recruited, of which – 116 were randomized. Of the randomized participants, 60 were recruited into the intervention trial, while 56 were placed into the control group.
3. The MEND intervention program focuses on cultivating healthy nutrition, behavior, and exercise habits within individuals who identify as obese. The program mends unhealthy nutrition patterns by providing participants, as well as their siblings and caregivers, with detailed healthy eating advice.
Participants also learn how to: set weekly targets, interpret food nutrition labels, as well as follow a …show more content…
Strengths
• The program is straightforward enough to be delivered by individuals unfamiliar with obesity intervention techniques (Sacher et al., 2010). Not only does the program have a high acceptability rate amongst participants, but the costs with administering such an intervention, can be greatly reduced through standardization of teaching materials.
• The results of this study showed increases within the participants’ self-esteem. These findings are stark in contrast to the notion of obesity stigma associated with weight bias (Ramos, 2014).
As such, let it be noted that perhaps, it would be more efficient to dedicate future funding towards obesity intervention programs such as MEND, rather than attempting to come up with primordial solutions which may end up being more costly in the long run.
7. Limitations & Suggested Improvements
• One of the main weaknesses of this study was the short follow-up period for the intervention group, consisting of only 12 months. (Sacher et al., 2010)
A suggested improvement would be to stretch the follow up period to >2 years in order to monitor the long term implications of the MEND intervention, as well as track any cases of
2. The study was set up as a randomized control trial. There were a total of 117 participants recruited, of which – 116 were randomized. Of the randomized participants, 60 were recruited into the intervention trial, while 56 were placed into the control group.
3. The MEND intervention program focuses on cultivating healthy nutrition, behavior, and exercise habits within individuals who identify as obese. The program mends unhealthy nutrition patterns by providing participants, as well as their siblings and caregivers, with detailed healthy eating advice.
Participants also learn how to: set weekly targets, interpret food nutrition labels, as well as follow a …show more content…
Strengths
• The program is straightforward enough to be delivered by individuals unfamiliar with obesity intervention techniques (Sacher et al., 2010). Not only does the program have a high acceptability rate amongst participants, but the costs with administering such an intervention, can be greatly reduced through standardization of teaching materials.
• The results of this study showed increases within the participants’ self-esteem. These findings are stark in contrast to the notion of obesity stigma associated with weight bias (Ramos, 2014).
As such, let it be noted that perhaps, it would be more efficient to dedicate future funding towards obesity intervention programs such as MEND, rather than attempting to come up with primordial solutions which may end up being more costly in the long run.
7. Limitations & Suggested Improvements
• One of the main weaknesses of this study was the short follow-up period for the intervention group, consisting of only 12 months. (Sacher et al., 2010)
A suggested improvement would be to stretch the follow up period to >2 years in order to monitor the long term implications of the MEND intervention, as well as track any cases of