The effect of an augmented commercial weight loss program on increasing physical activity and reducing psychological distress in women with overweight or obesity: a randomised controlled trial
| Date | 03 July 2019 |
| Published date | 03 July 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-08-2018-0055 |
| Pages | 145-157 |
| Author | Gavin Breslin,Leeanne Sweeney,Stephen Shannon,Marie Murphy,Donncha Hanna,Mary Meade,Christopher J. Armitage |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
The effect of an augmented commercial
weight loss program on increasing physical
activity and reducing psychological distress
in women with overweight or obesity:
arandomisedcontrolledtrial
Gavin Breslin, Leeanne Sweeney, Stephen Shannon, Marie Murphy, Donncha Hanna,
Mary Meade and Christopher J. Armitage
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to test the effects of augmenting an evidence-based physical
activity intervention within an existing commercial weight loss program to assess effects on increasing
physicalactivity and reducing psychological distress.
Design/methodology/approach –The CONSORT guidelines were adopted for the study. In total, 49
women with overweight or obesity (Mage ¼39.5, SD:12.4; MBody Mass Index ¼31.02, SD: 2.10)
enrolled in a six week commercialweight loss program were randomized to an intervention or a control
group. Participants in the control group received care as usual; participants in the intervention group
additionallyreceived an evidence-based intervention to increasephysical activity that included behavior
changetechniques including implementationintentions, goal-setting and self-monitoring.
Findings –Weekly steps increased in the intervention group (M¼31,516.25; SD ¼9,310.17 to M¼
62,851.36; SD ¼13,840.4) significantly more (p<0.001,
h
2
p¼0.32) than in the control group (M¼
30,207.67;SD ¼7,833.29) to M¼46,969.33 (SD ¼9,470.96), along withexperiencing significantly lower
anxiety(p<0.001,
h
2
p¼0.15), socialdysfunction (p<0.001,
h
2
p¼0.16) and depressionsymptoms (p<
0.05,
h
2
p¼0.08) at follow-up.
Research limitations/implications –This intervention warrantsextension to those seeking to improve
mentalhealth through physical activity.
Originality/value –This study took a novelapproach of augmenting a commercial weight lossprogram
with a theory-based physicalactivity module, showing positive effects for physicalactivity behavior and
psychologicalhealth.
Keywords Wellbeing, Health, Anxiety, Physical activity, Behaviour change, Goal intentions
Paper type Research paper
1. Background
Globally, more than 1.9 billion adults are overweight (World Health Organization, 2014)
which increases the risk of psychosocial, physiological, cardiovascular, metabolic and
musculoskeletal health issues (Shultz et al.,2014). Commercial weight loss programs are
culturally popular methods for achieving weight loss (Bye et al.,2005;Lowe et al.,1999;
Tsai and Wadden, 2005). Most commercial programs focus on reducing caloric intake
through food restriction,which when done moderately can offer a way to achieve a negative
energy balance, and subsequent improvements in cardiovascular and glucoregulatory
Gavin Breslin is based at
the Sport and Exercise
Science Research Institute,
University of Ulster, Belfast,
UK. Leeanne Sweeney and
Stephen Shannon and
Marie Murphy are all based
at the Ulster University,
Belfast, UK. Donncha
Hanna is based at the
Queen’s University Belfast
School of Medicine
Dentistry and Biomedical
Sciences, Belfast, UK. Mary
Meade is based at the
Ulster University, Belfast,
UK. Christopher J.
Armitage is based at the
School of Social Sciences,
The University of
Manchester, Manchester,
UK.
Received 1 August 2018
Revised 15 November 2018
Accepted 5 January 2019
All authors declare that we
have no conflict of interest to
declare. No funding was
sourced for this research
project.
DOI 10.1108/JPMH-08-2018-0055 VOL. 19 NO. 2 2020, pp. 145-157, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-5729 jJOURNAL OF PUBLIC MENTAL HEALTH jPAGE 145
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