Coach to Fit Weight Loss Intervention for Individuals With Serious Mental Illness (C2F)

CoachToFit: Adapted Weight Loss Intervention for Individuals With Serious Mental Illness

This project addresses obesity in the population with SMI by evaluating a weight management program that is not only evidence-based, it is sustainable, transportable, appealing to patients, easy to use, and minimally burdensome to the healthcare system. This effort addresses two HSR&D priority areas: 1) Mental Health: Testing new models of care to improve access, cost, and/or outcomes, and 2) Health Care Informatics: Building the evidence base for ehealth/mhealth tools.

Innovation: CoachToFit's use of mobile technology is an important innovation in VA service delivery and its user-centered design involving individuals with SMI was the first of its kind. CoachToFit is enhanced by data visualization in real-time via a web-based dashboard used by VA peer specialists and their supervisor. The Investigators are aware of no other evidence-based mobile platforms to help people with SMI reduce their weight

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Serious Mental Illness
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Coach to FIt; Behavioral: Treatment as Usual

Detailed Description

Between 40% to 60% of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) are obese. Obesity and physical inactivity result in increased rates of chronic diseases, increased risk of death, and substantial health care costs. Treatment guidelines recommend that individuals with SMI who are overweight should be offered evidence-based weight loss interventions, including psychosocial interventions. The VA's weight management program, MOVE!, is attended by less than 5% of the overweight population and is not adapted to the cognitive needs and patient preferences for the population with SMI. Effective adapted weight management programs are not offered in VA because the programs are time-intensive and require the skills of trained providers who are often in short-supply. CoachToFit can address this gap in care. CoachToFit is a weight management program, adapted for the population with SMI, that includes a smartphone app delivering evidence-based weight management services with weekly telephonic support from a VA peer specialist who acts as a wellness coach. Peer specialists are individuals who draw upon lived experiences with SMI to provide services to others with SMI in clinical settings. CoachToFit was shown to have high rates of acceptability and usability and was efficacious for weight loss in a small sample. VA has an opportunity to address obesity in the population with serious mental illness, currently a substantial gap in care.

Significance/Impact: This project addresses obesity in the population with SMI by evaluating a weight management program that is not only evidence-based, it is sustainable, transportable, appealing to patients, easy to use, and minimally burdensome to the healthcare system. This effort addresses two HSR&D priority areas: 1) Mental Health: Testing new models of care to improve access, cost, and/or outcomes, and 2) Health Care Informatics: Building the evidence base for ehealth/mhealth tools.

Innovation: CoachToFit's use of mobile technology is an important innovation in VA service delivery and its user-centered design involving individuals with SMI was the first of its kind. CoachToFit is enhanced by data visualization in real-time via a web-based dashboard used by VA peer specialists and their supervisor. The investigators are aware of no other evidence-based mobile platforms to help people with SMI reduce their weight.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 257
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15240
      • VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System University Drive Division, Pittsburgh, PA

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• chart diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or recurrent major depressive disorder with psychosis;
• age 18 and over;
• BMI >= 30.0 (obese); and
• ownership of a phone running Android OS or iOS (iPhone).

Exclusion Criteria:

• chart diagnosis of dementia;
• history of bariatric surgery;
• pregnant and nursing mothers;
• patient has a conservator/legally authorized representative who makes their medical decisions;
• psychiatric hospitalization during the month prior to enrollment.

Additionally, we will follow the American College of Sports Medicine recommendations for health screening and risk stratification in preparation for starting a moderate intensity exercise program to ensure that participants enrolled are capable of safely engaging in the app's recommendations regarding physical activity. Specifically, all potential participants will be given the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q), a screening tool often used in weight management trials. If they endorse symptoms or major signs suggestive of cardiopulmonary disease (i.e., angina, anginal equivalent, dyspnea, syncope, orthopnea, edema, palpitations or claudication), which is a score >=1 on the PAR-Q, they will need clearance from a VA physician before enrolling.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Coach to fit; CoachToFit: Those randomized to CoachToFit will have the CoachToFit app downloaded to their phone by the peer coach and will work with the coach to initialize the app. Individuals will receive an activity tracker compatible with Android OS and iOS (Amazfit Bit) and a Bluetooth scale (Smart Body scale). Participants will be instructed by the peer to complete at least two CoachToFit modules per week. Modules take about 15 minutes to complete and have embedded knowledge quizzes and end with a choice of three goals to practice over the next week. They will also set up a time for the first 20-minute coaching call, which will then continue weekly.	Behavioral: Coach to FIt; CoachToFit: Those randomized to CoachToFit will have the CoachToFit app downloaded to their phone by the peer coach and will work with the coach to initialize the app. Individuals will receive an activity tracker compatible with Android OS and iOS (Amazfit Bit) and a Bluetooth scale (Smart Body scale). Participants will be instructed by the peer to complete at least two CoachToFit modules per week. Modules take about 15 minutes to complete and have embedded knowledge quizzes and end with a choice of three goals to practice over the next week. They will also set up a time for the first 20-minute coaching call, which will then continue weekly.
Other: Treatment as usual; Veterans randomized to the treatment as usual arm will continue to access all services of the VA Pittsburgh, and will participate in three research interviews. After the first meeting, all participants will meet with a peer coach (peer specialists) who will discuss with them the importance of losing weight (using a structured conversation that follows a handout which is provided to the participant). The handout was developed with input from a VA dietitian as well as Veterans and is graphically appealing, with a simple layout, and provides information on diet and activity as well as the local MOVE! schedule	Behavioral: Treatment as Usual; Veterans randomized to the treatment as usual arm will continue to access all services of the VA Pittsburgh, and will participate in three research interviews. After the first meeting, all participants will meet with a peer coach (peer specialists) who will discuss with them the importance of losing weight (using a structured conversation that follows a handout which is provided to the participant). The handout was developed with input from a VA dietitian as well as Veterans and is graphically appealing, with a simple layout, and provides information on diet and activity as well as the local MOVE! schedule

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
EATING HABITS CONFIDENCE SURVEY	Measures a participants confidence in their eating habits and potential for change. 32 items. Scale is 1 to 5. Total score ranges from 32 to 160, with higher scores meaning more confidence in changing to healthy eating habits.	Change from Baseline to 6 months and baseline to 12 months
Measure Usability and Acceptability	Measures attitudes towards the Coach to fit intervention. 10 items. Scale is 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. After some calculations, total score ranges from 1- 100, with higher scores meaning more acceptability.	6 month interview
MOVE!11 Questionnaire	Measures attitudes toward eating habits and weight loss. 1 item on number of minutes spent in moderate physical activity per day. higher minutes means more activity.	Change from Baseline to 6 months and baseline to 12 months
Weight control: Stages of change	Measures willingness and readiness to change eating and exercise patterns. 4 Yes/No items. The pattern of responses places an individual into one of four categories: precontemplation (lowest), contemplation, action, maintenance (highest)	Change from Baseline to 6 months and baseline to 12 months
Body weight.	Measurement of weight(in pounds) will be obtained for all participants using a hospital quality scale. Less pounds is better.	Change from Baseline to 6 months and baseline to 12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Matthew J Chinman, PhD, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System University Drive Division, Pittsburgh, PA

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Chinman M, Wang T, Dodge JR, Frank DA, McCoy JL, Cohen AN. Tailored Weight Loss Programs for Adults With Serious Mental Illness: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. 2026 Feb 1;83(2):139-148. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2025.3828.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 2, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): March 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 16, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 16, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): September 23, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 9, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 3, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: exercise; weight loss; mental illness
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Body Weight; Body Weight Changes; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Behavior; Signs and Symptoms; Weight Loss; Mental Disorders; Motor Activity; Therapeutics
• Other Study ID Numbers: IIR 19-153

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No