An adaptation of family-based behavioral pediatric obesity treatment for a primary care setting: group health family wellness program pilot.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility and acceptability of family-based group pediatric obesity treatment in a primary care setting, to obtain an estimate of its effectiveness, and to describe participating parents' experiences of social support for healthy lifestyle changes. METHODS: We adapted an evidence-based intervention to a group format and completed six 12- to 16-week groups over 3 years. We assessed program attendance and completion, changes in child and parent body mass index (BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared), and changes in child quality of life in a single-arm before-and-after trial. Qualitative interviews explored social support for implementing healthy lifestyle changes. RESULTS: Thirty-eight parent-child pairs enrolled (28% of the 134 pairs invited). Of those, 24 (63%) completed the program and another 6 (16%) attended at least 4 sessions but did not complete the program. Children who completed the program achieved a mean change in BMI Z-scores (Z-BMI) of -0.1 (0.1) (p < 0.001) and significant improvement in parent-reported child quality of life (mean change = 8.5; p = 0.002). Mean BMI of parents changed by -0.9 (p = 0.003). Parents reported receiving a wide range of social support for healthy lifestyle changes and placed importance on the absence or presence of support. CONCLUSIONS: A pilot group program for family-based treatment of pediatric obesity is feasible and acceptable in a primary care setting. Change in child and parent BMI outcomes and child quality of life among completers were promising despite the pilot's low intensity. Parent experiences with lack of social support suggest possible ways to improve retention and adherence.

Immediate and short-term impact of a brief motivational smoking intervention using a biomedical risk assessment: the Get PHIT trial.

INTRODUCTION: Providing smokers with biologically based evidence of smoking-related disease risk or physical impairment may be an effective way to motivate cessation. METHODS: Smokers were recruited for a free health risk assessment and randomized to receive personally tailored feedback based on their lung functioning, carbon monoxide (CO) exposure, and smoking-related health conditions or generic information about the risks of smoking and personalized counseling based on their diet, body mass index, and physical activity. All (n = 536) were advised to quit smoking and offered access to a free telephone cessation program. Participants were surveyed immediately after intervention and 1 month later to assess the impact on various indices of motivation to quit. RESULTS: Immediately posttreatment, experimental participants rated themselves as more likely to try to quit (p = .02) and reported a greater mean increase in their motivation to quit than controls (p = .04). At 1-month follow-up, however, we found no significant group differences on any motivational indices. In post-hoc analyses comparing smokers in the experimental group with and without lung impairment, persons with impaired lung functioning had a greater change from baseline in posttreatment motivation to quit (adjusted p = .05) and perceived risk of developing a smoking-related disease (p = .03) compared with persons with no lung impairment, but we found no significant treatment effect on any motivational indices at 1 month. DISCUSSION: The results suggest that the intervention had a small, temporary effect, but we found no clear evidence that the intervention increased motivation to quit smoking during the first month postintervention.

Quality of life valuations of mammography screening.

OBJECTIVE: To obtain quality-of-life (QOL) valuations associated with mammography screening and breast cancer treatment that are suitable for use in cost-effectiveness analyses. METHODS: Subjects comprised 131 women (age range 50-79 years) randomly sampled from a breast cancer screening program. In an in-person or telephone interview, women rated the QOL impact of 14 clinical scenarios (ranging from mammography to end-of-life care for breast cancer) using a visual analogue scale anchored by death (0) and perfect health/quality of life (100). RESULTS: Women rated the scenarios describing true negative results, false positive results, and routine screening mammography at 80 or above on a scale of 0-100, suggesting that they perceive these states as being close to perfect health. They rated adjuvant chemotherapy (39.7; range 10-90), palliation/end-of-life care (35.8; range 0-100), and recurrence at 1 year (33.0; range 0-95) the lowest, suggesting that these health states are perceived as compromised. Women rated receiving news of a breast cancer diagnosis (true positive) (45.7; range 5-100) and receiving delayed news of a breast cancer diagnosis (false negative) (48.5; range 5-100) as being comparable to undergoing mastectomy (48.3; range 10-100) and radiation therapy (46.2; range 5-100) for breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: These data can be used to update cost analyses of mammography screening that wish to take into account the QOL impact of screening.