Does brief telephone support improve engagement with a web-based weight management intervention? Randomized...

Area of Science:

• Health Psychology
• Behavioral Medicine
• Digital Health

Background:

• Web-based interventions show promise for weight management but often suffer from suboptimal usage.
• Human support integrated into digital health platforms may enhance user engagement and effectiveness.
• The POWeR (Positive Online Weight Reduction) program aimed to address these challenges in a community setting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of brief telephone coaching on the usage and outcomes of the POWeR web-based weight management intervention.
• To compare the effectiveness of POWeR alone versus POWeR plus coaching against a waiting list control group.
• To explore factors influencing engagement with coaching and its effect on weight loss.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 786 adults allocated to POWeR only, POWeR plus coaching, or a waiting list control.
• Intervention usage was tracked automatically, with weight assessed via self-report.
• Coaching involved brief telephone calls at approximately 7 and 28 days post-randomization.

Main Results:

• While overall usage remained suboptimal, the POWeR plus coaching group showed significantly higher completion rates of core intervention sessions (OR 1.61).
• Both intervention groups achieved greater weight loss than the control group (P<.001).
• Participants who engaged with coaching demonstrated increased intervention use and greater weight loss, despite a substantial proportion not being contactable or refusing calls.

Conclusions:

• Supplementing web-based weight management interventions with brief human support can improve user engagement and outcomes.
• Targeted human support, like telephone coaching, is a viable strategy to enhance the effectiveness of digital health tools.
• Further research into optimizing the delivery and uptake of human support components in digital interventions is warranted.