Weight Management Intervention in College: A Pilot Study

Developing a Behavioral Weight Loss Intervention for Emerging Adults Implemented Within College Health Service Centers

This Proof-of-Concept study consists of a series of uncontrolled pilot studies to refine a behavioral weight loss trial using a "small change" approach for emerging adult college students with overweight/obesity. The primary aim of this study is maximize student acceptability of the intervention and weight loss outcomes.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Obesity
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: BWLI-College; Behavioral: Control

Detailed Description

Forty percent of emerging adults (age 18-25) have overweight or obesity, which is unlikely to remit and has significant health consequences. However, emerging adults are underrepresented in traditional weight loss programs, drop-out at high rates, and have blunted weight loss outcomes. One potential way to improve participation is to offer BWLIs in college health service centers to reduce barriers to participation. Approximately 40% of emerging adults are enrolled in a postsecondary institution and college health centers are used widely by students. Moreover, delivering an intervention with design features that are responsive to emerging adult preferences and lifestyles may also improve intervention effectiveness and attractiveness. The "small change" (SC) approach to weight loss addresses emerging adult barriers to engagement by focusing on reducing calories through a few self-selected, specific changes to current obesogenic behaviors, requiring less time and effort than traditional behavioral weight loss interventions (BWLI) and promoting autonomy and self-efficacy. The SC approach has been used effectively for weight loss in other populations. This proof-of-concept study is part of a larger study that aims to develop and refine a novel and effective BWLI based on a SC approach that is designed for emerging adults and for implementation in college health centers, an accessible care setting. The primary aim of this proof-of-concept study is to iteratively test and refine the intervention to maximize student acceptability and weight loss outcomes.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 42
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Rhode Island
    • Providence, Rhode Island, United States, 02903
      • The Miriam Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• BMI of 25 or greater
• Enrolled at college/university where study will take place
• English-speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

• History or current diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or alcohol use disorder (current symptoms also assessed at screening using validated screening questionnaires)
• Participation in another formal weight loss program
• Current or recent pregnancy
• Psychiatric hospitalization in the past 12 months
• Recent weight loss of 5% body weight or more
• History of bariatric surgery
• Severe food or physical activity restrictions that would interfere with treatment recommendations

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: BWLI-College; BWLI-College is a multicomponent behavioral weight loss intervention to reduce weight through diet, physical activity, and behavioral modifications designed to be responsive to emerging adult preferences. It will be delivered in a hybrid format with in-person and remotely-delivered asynchronous sessions. As presently designed, the intervention will last 10 weeks, though this may change with refinement.	Behavioral: BWLI-College; Behavioral modifications are based on empirically-supported principles for weight loss. Diet recommendations follow a small change approach in which participants will make a series of small, self-selected dietary changes each day (~100-200 calories) that they build on over the course of the intervention. Physical activity recommendations are to achieve 150-250 weekly minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity with specific goals and rate of progression that are individualized to each participant.
Active Comparator: Control; The Control intervention consists of 1 in-person psychoeducational group session on general weight loss information and myths. Public web-resources about healthy eating and physical activity will be provided. Newsletters with similar content will be sent to promote retention.	Behavioral: Control; Psychoeducation around dieting myths, healthy eating, and physical activity

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Adherence	Average attendance and completion of sessions of 75% or more (benchmark)	10 weeks
Acceptability	Refers to the satisfactory nature of a treatment and will be assessed via the 4-item Acceptability of Intervention Measure. Benchmarks are to reach mean scores of at least 4 out of 5. Range is 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating greater acceptability.	10 weeks
Percentage of Participants Who Remained at 10 Weeks	Rate of retention of 80% or more (benchmark)	10 weeks
Weight Change	Average weight loss of at least 3% (benchmark)	10 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Miriam Hospital
• Collaborators: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Jacqueline F Hayes, PhD, Brown University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 8, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 5, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): December 5, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 22, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 31, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): June 8, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 21, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 20, 2026
• Last Verified: September 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nutrition Disorders; Overnutrition; Body Weight; Overweight; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Obesity
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1793732; K23DK128561 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Individual participant data will not be made available to share with other researchers.

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