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Supporting families to achieve a healthy weight development for their child with overweight/obesity using the
Katrin Ziser1,2, Florian Junne3,4, Anne Herschbach3,5
1Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany. katrin.ziser@med.uni-tuebingen.de.
Insights
The STARKIDS program offers a structured, digitally supported intervention for childhood obesity, aiming to improve health and quality of life for families. This evidence-based approach shows potential for widespread adoption in healthcare systems.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Obesity Intervention
- Digital Health
Background:
- Childhood and adolescent overweight/obesity is a significant global health issue.
- Structured weight reduction programs are needed, but evidence is limited.
- The STARKIDS program addresses these limitations with a family-centered, digitally supported approach.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of the STARKIDS intervention program.
- To promote healthy weight development and improve quality of life in children and adolescents with overweight/obesity.
- To assess the impact on diet, physical activity, stress, and media habits.
Main Methods:
- Cluster-randomized study comparing STARKIDS to standard counseling.
- Inclusion of 1000 families with overweight/obese children/adolescents from 100 pediatric practices.
- Measurement of outcomes at baseline, 12 months, and 18 months.
Main Results:
- The STARKIDS program is a stepwise, e-health-supported intervention.
- It is designed as a low-threshold program for families facing childhood obesity.
- The program aims to improve body mass index percentiles and quality of life.
Conclusions:
- The STARKIDS program demonstrates proof of concept for childhood obesity intervention.
- It has the potential to be integrated as a standard care tool in the German health system.
- The intervention focuses on prevention and management of pediatric obesity.
Background:
Childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity are among the most serious health challenges today. Structured weight reduction programs can be helpful to reduce severe health consequences but evidence is partly scarce. The STARKIDS program aims to improve on some of these limitations and is designed to be a structured, stepwise, digitally supported intervention program for the whole family. It is divided into two intervention steps spanning over 1.5 years and aims at promoting a healthy weight development of children/adolescents with overweight/obesity and an increase in quality of life.
Methods:
The STARKIDS intervention is evaluated in a cluster-randomized study design by comparing it with a control group receiving a one-time structured counselling in the pediatric practice. The study aims to include 1000 families with children/adolescents with overweight/obesity from 100 pediatric practices. The main outcomes are reduction in body mass index percentiles and improvements in children's/adolescent's quality of life, secondary outcomes refer to the contents of the intervention such as diet, physical activity, stress, and media habits. All outcomes are measured on three measurement time points: (T0) at baseline/inclusion in the study, (T1) baseline + 12 months which is the end of step 1 of the STARKIDS intervention, and (T2) baseline + 18 months which is the end of step 2 of the STARKIDS intervention.
Discussion:
The stepwise, e-health-supported STARKIDS program is a low-threshold intervention program for families with children/adolescents with overweight/obesity. With the proof of concept, STARKIDS provides the potential to be implemented as a standard care tool for the prevention and intervention of childhood/adolescence obesity in the German health system.
Trial Registration:
German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) DRKS00022813 (acknowledged primary register of the World Health Organization). Registered on 27 November 2020 (Universal Trial Number U1111-1254-9536).
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