Self‐help in the long‐term treatment of obesity

Abstract

Despite the short-term success of professional behavioural techniques for obesity, weight losses are typically regained following treatment. The long-term maintenance of treatment effects will probably require ongoing, continuing care. Continuing care may be economically feasible when administered through self-help treatment modalities. Self-help confers a number of psychological benefits, such as self-reliance and an increased sense of empowerment. The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of various modalities of self-help are reviewed, including purely self-prompted help, self-administered manuals, computer-assisted therapy, professionally assisted correspondence courses, and non-profit and commercial self-help groups. Stepped-care models suggest using a combination of these approaches when appropriate. However, logistical difficulties present themselves in stepped-care approaches with obesity, such as the complicating effects of severity and comorbidity on stepped-care status. Self-help groups are a promising venue for the provision of continuing care and as an adjunct to more intensive, specialty therapies.

Difficulty in losing weight by behavioral intervention for women with Trp64Arg polymorphism of the β3-adrenergic receptor gene

“…27,28 The objectives of the intervention were to lose 1.0 kg of weight, reduce metabolic measurement values by 10% in dietary caloric intake and keep taking over 7000 steps a day. The behavioral program for obesity was based on learning principles, such as recognizing participant's health risks related to obesity, studying healthy life-skills, setting specific behavioral goals, modifying behavior determinants and reinforcing desired behavior.…”

Weight loss—there is an app for that! But does it adhere to evidence-informed practices?

“…First lines of treatment for many individuals attempting to lose weight are selfhelp programs. These can include a number of different methods, such as books, "how-to" manuals, and commercial programs [4,5]. Advances in communication technologies have pushed these self-help and commercial programs to Internet platforms and more recently to mobile smartphones [6,7].…”

Effect of web-based lifestyle modification on weight control: a meta-analysis

“…Most obese people have little chance to make use of professional help for weight management because of clinicians not referring patients for professional help, financial costs that are seldom covered by medical insurance and lack of time for frequent visits. 6,7 Moreover, most primary care practitioners offer insufficient lifestyle education in contrast to frequent prescription of medications 8 because of inadequate training in behavioral counseling, not dedicating sufficient time for counseling during the typical outpatient visit, and additional labor costs for staffing. 9 Remote healthcare programs using the Internet have the potential to overcome some of these barriers and are expected to have a supplemental role or serve as an alternative in obesity care through promoting lifestyle modifications.…”