Health-e-call,a smartphone-assisted behavioral obesity treatment: Pilot study

Background: individual and group-based behavioral weight loss treatment (bwl) produces average weight loss of 5-10% of initial body weight,which improves health and wellbeing. however,bwl is an intensive treatment that is costly and not widely available. smartphones may be a useful tool for promoting adherence to key aspects of bwl,such as self-monitoring,thereby facilitating weight loss while reducing the need for intensive in-person contact. objective: the objective of this study was to evaluate smartphones as a method of delivering key components of established and empirically validated behavioral weight loss treatment,with an emphasis on adherence to self-monitoring. methods: twenty overweight/obese participants (95% women; 85% non-hispanic white; mean age 53.0,se 1.9) received 12-24 weeks of behavioral weight loss treatment consisting of smartphone-based self-monitoring,feedback,and behavioral skills training. participants also received brief weekly weigh-ins and paper weight loss lessons. results: average weight loss was 8.4kg (se 0.8kg; 9%,se 1% of initial body weight) at 12 weeks and 10.9kg (se 1.1kg; 11%,se 1% of initial body weight) at 24 weeks. adherence to the self-monitoring protocol was 91% (se 3%) during the first 12 weeks and 85% (se 4%) during the second 12 weeks. conclusions: smartphones show promise as a tool for delivering key components of bwl and may be particularly advantageous for optimizing adherence to self-monitoring,a cornerstone of bwl.