What Type of Engagement Predicts Success  in a Facebook Weight Loss Group?

Pagoto, Sherry L.; Waring, Molly E.; Jake‐Schoffman, Danielle E.; Goetz, Jared M; Michaels, Zachary; Oleski, Jessica L.; DiVito, Joseph

doi:10.24251/hicss.2018.419

Cited by 19 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Although this rate of treatment retention is promising, this study will provide information about sustained participation in the intervention throughout the full 6-month intervention. We have refined our intervention content after pretesting it in this and other pilot studies by identifying posts that received low engagement and rewording them to be more succinct; adding high-quality graphics; and including features known to elicit engagement such as polls, gifs, and challenges [65,86]. As attrition from treatment is a common challenge in postpartum weight loss intervention studies regardless of treatment modality [12,13], this study will also provide an opportunity to examine sustained participation in the in-person condition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There will be 2 posts daily for the first 15 weeks, and 1 post daily for weeks 16 to 25, corresponding to the decrease in contact in the in-person condition. Intervention posts have been developed based on our previous research [30,65-67] to cover the intervention content in that intervention module of the DPP lifestyle intervention through posts that provide information or resources, solicit sharing of thoughts or experiences or challenges related to the topic of the week, ask participants to set goals (posted on Mondays), ask participants to report their progress toward these goals (posted on Sundays), and ask participants to report their weekly weight change (posted on Fridays). Sample intervention posts are shown in Figure 1.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Delivering a Post-Partum Weight Loss Intervention via Facebook or In-Person Groups: Protocol for a Randomized Feasibility Pilot Trial

Waring¹,

Libby²,

Simas³

et al. 2019

JMIR Res Protoc

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BackgroundPostpartum weight retention contributes to long-term weight gain and obesity for many women. Lifestyle interventions with numerous visits are logistically challenging for many postpartum women. Delivering a lifestyle intervention via social media may overcome logistic challenges to participation in in-person weight loss programs.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to conduct a randomized feasibility pilot trial of a 6-month postpartum weight loss intervention delivered via Facebook or in-person groups with 72 postpartum women with overweight or obesity.MethodsWomen with overweight or obesity who are 8 weeks to 12 months postpartum (N=72) will be recruited from the Hartford, Connecticut community. Eligible participants must also own an iPhone or Android smartphone and be an active Facebook user. Participants will receive a 6-month postpartum weight loss intervention based on the Diabetes Prevention Program lifestyle intervention and adapted for postpartum women. Participants will be randomized to receive the intervention via a private Facebook group or in-person group meetings. Assessments will occur at baseline, weekly during the intervention, at 6 months (at the end of the intervention), and at 12 months. Primary feasibility outcomes are recruitment, sustained participation, contamination, retention, and feasibility of assessment procedures including measurement of costs to deliver and receive the intervention. We will describe 6- and 12-month weight loss as an exploratory outcome.ResultsRecruitment began in September 2018. The first wave of the intervention began in February 2019, and the second wave of the intervention is expected to begin in fall 2019. We anticipate completing follow-up assessments in fall 2020, and results will be analyzed at that time.ConclusionsResults will inform the design of a large randomized controlled trial to assess whether delivering a postpartum weight loss intervention via Facebook is noninferior for weight loss and more cost-effective than delivering the intervention via traditional in-person groups.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/15530

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delivering a Post-Partum Weight Loss Intervention via Facebook or In-Person Groups: Protocol for a Randomized Feasibility Pilot Trial

Waring¹,

Libby²,

Simas³

et al. 2019

JMIR Res Protoc

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“…Diet tracking adherence was defined as the number of days a participant tracked their dietary intake in the MyFitnessPal app. A complete day of diet tracking was defined as any day on which the participants tracked ≥2 meals and ≥800 kcal per day [ 21 , 22 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Engagement, defined as any visible activity in the group (eg, posts, comments on posts, likes , and poll votes), appears to be an important predictor of outcomes [ 12 - 15 ]. The degree of engagement reported in studies of social media-delivered interventions is highly variable, ranging from an average of once per participant during the entire intervention to 11 times per week per participant during the intervention [ 12 , 13 , 15 - 21 ]. Regardless of how engaged the participants are at the beginning of these programs, engagement generally declines over time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Facebook-Delivered Weight Loss Intervention Using Open Enrollment: Randomized Pilot Feasibility Trial

Pagoto¹,

Schroeder²,

Xu³

et al. 2022

JMIR Form Res

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Background Behavioral weight loss programs typically enroll 12-40 people into groups that then suffer from declining engagement over time. Web-based patient communities, on the other hand, typically offer no limits on capacity and membership is fluid. This model may be useful for boosting engagement in behavioral weight loss interventions, which could lead to better outcomes. Objective In this study, we aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of continuously enrolling participants into a Facebook-delivered weight loss intervention for the first 8 of 16 weeks relative to the same intervention where no new participants were enrolled after randomization. Methods We conducted a randomized pilot trial to compare a Facebook weight loss group that used open enrollment with a group that used closed enrollment on feasibility and acceptability in adults with BMI 27-45 kg/m2. The feasibility outcomes included retention, engagement, and diet tracking adherence. We described the percentage loss of ≥5% weight in both groups as an exploratory outcome. We also explored the relationship between total volume of activity in the group and weight loss. The participants provided feedback via web-based surveys and focus groups. Results Randomized participants (68/80, 85% women) were on average, aged 40.2 (SD 11.2) years with a mean BMI of 34.4 (SD 4.98) kg/m2. We enrolled an additional 54 participants (50/54, 93% female) in the open enrollment condition between weeks 1 and 8, resulting in a total group size of 94. Retention was 88% and 98% under the open and closed conditions, respectively. Randomized participants across conditions did not differ in engagement (P=.72), or diet tracking adherence (P=.42). Participant feedback in both conditions revealed that sense of community was what they liked most about the program and not enough individualized feedback was what they liked the least. Weight loss of ≥5% was achieved by 30% (12/40) of the participants randomized to the open enrollment condition and 18% (7/40) of the participants in the closed enrollment condition. Exploratory analyses revealed that the open condition (median 385, IQR 228-536.5) had a greater volume of engagement than the closed condition (median 215, IQR 145.5-292; P=.007). Furthermore, an increase of 100 in the total volume of engagement in the Facebook group each week was associated with an additional 0.1% weekly weight loss among the randomized participants (P=.02), which was independent of time, individual participant engagement, and sociodemographic characteristics. Conclusions Open enrollment was as feasible and acceptable as closed enrollment. A greater volume of engagement in the Facebook group was associated with weight loss, suggesting that larger groups that produce more engagement overall may be beneficial. Future research should examine the efficacy of the open enrollment approach for weight loss in a fully powered randomized trial. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02656680; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02656680

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“…Some examples of micro level engagement include number of ‘likes’, count of post views, and frequency and number of user posts or replies to intervention messages ( Waring et al, 2018 ). Meanwhile, certain types of post content produced by intervention participants, such as autobiographical posts ( Pagoto et al, 2018 ), might be an indicator of affective response to intervention components, which are described as macro level engagement. These two dimensions are important to evaluate in social media–delivered interventions because, while good micro level engagement might signal overall engagement with the intervention, macro level engagement seems to be a more valid indicator of engagement with a process of behavioral change ( Yardley et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review of the engagement with social media–delivered interventions for improving health outcomes among sexual and gender minorities

Escobar-Viera

Melcher

Miller

et al. 2021

Internet Interventions

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Background Sexual and gender minority (SGM) persons face a number of physical and mental health disparities closely linked to discrimination, social stigma, and victimization. Despite the acceptability and increasing number of digital health interventions focused on improving health outcomes among SGM people, there is a lack of reviews summarizing whether and how researchers assess engagement with social media–delivered health interventions for this group. Objective The objective of this systematic review was to synthesize and critique the evidence on evaluation of engagement with social media–delivered interventions for improving health outcomes among SGM persons. Methods We conducted a literature search for studies published between January 2003 and June 2020 using 4 electronic databases. Articles were included if they were peer-reviewed, in English language, assessed engagement with a social media–delivered health intervention for improving health outcomes among sexual and gender minorities. A minimum of two authors independently extracted data from each study using an a priori developed abstraction form. We assessed quality of data reporting using the CONSORT extension for pilot and feasibility studies and CONSORT statement parallel group randomized trials. Results We included 18 articles in the review; 15 were feasibility studies and 3 were efficacy or effectiveness randomized trials. The quality of data reporting varied considerably. The vast majority of articles focused on improving HIV-related outcomes among men who have sex with men. Only three studies recruited cisgender women and/or transgender persons. We found heterogeneity in how engagement was defined and assessed. Intervention usage from social media data was the most frequently used engagement measure. Conclusion In addition to the heterogeneity in defining and assessing engagement, we found that the focus of assessment was often on measures of intervention usage only. More purposeful recruitment is needed to learn about whether, how, and why different SGM groups engage with social media-interventions. This leaves significant room for future research to expand evaluation criteria for cognitive and emotional aspects of intervention engagement in order to develop effective and tailored social media-delivered interventions for SGM people. Our findings also support the need for developing and testing social media-delivered interventions that focus on improving mental health and outcomes related to chronic health conditions among SGM persons.

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What Type of Engagement Predicts Success in a Facebook Weight Loss Group?

Cited by 19 publications

References 13 publications

Delivering a Post-Partum Weight Loss Intervention via Facebook or In-Person Groups: Protocol for a Randomized Feasibility Pilot Trial

Delivering a Post-Partum Weight Loss Intervention via Facebook or In-Person Groups: Protocol for a Randomized Feasibility Pilot Trial

A Facebook-Delivered Weight Loss Intervention Using Open Enrollment: Randomized Pilot Feasibility Trial

A systematic review of the engagement with social media–delivered interventions for improving health outcomes among sexual and gender minorities

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