The effectiveness of a 10-week family-focused e-Health healthy lifestyle program for school-aged children with overweight or obesity

Childhood obesity persists at historically high rates globally, including an increasing number of children with severe obesity (1–3) . Despite the growing demand of families with children needing treatment, effective interventions are largely unavailable or inaccessible (4,5) . Using technology to transform such services that are conventionally delivered in person and offering electronic health (e-Health) interventions, may address limitations of current childhood obesity treatment. A randomised control trial (RCT) with a waitlisted control group evaluated the effectiveness of a 10-week family-focused web-based healthy lifestyle program with health coaching sessions, for treating childhood overweight and obesity, over 10 weeks. Outcome measures included change in children’s body mass index (BMI) z-score, waist circumference, dietary intake, physical activity, and quality of life, collected online at baseline and end of the web-based program (10 weeks). A total of 148 children (125 families) aged 7–13 years, with BMI ≥ 85 th percentile, living in Victoria, Australia, were recruited and randomised to intervention (Cohort 1) or waitlist control (Cohort 2), of which 102 children (85 families) completed the RCT. Cohort 2 received no intervention during the control period. A clinically meaningful decrease in BMI z-score, in the context of weight maintenance and height growth, was observed in Cohort 1 compared to a negligible change found in Cohort 2 (mean difference in change in BMI z-score Cohort 1 vs Cohort 2 = −0.1; 95% confidence interval, −0.2, –0.0). Compared with Cohort 2, Cohort 1 adopted health-supporting lifestyle behaviours, such as improved diet quality and increased physical activity; and reported a clinically significant improvement in children’s quality of life at 10 weeks. Cohort 2 demonstrated similar changes in outcome measures after receiving the web-based program. Findings from this study furthers the growing body of evidence on the potential of e-Health interventions to upscale childhood obesity treatment. E-Health interventions, including a low-intensity program that requires minimal contact time with health professionals online, can enhance the effectiveness of conventional treatment services.