Prevention of Obesity in Military Communities - Fit4Duty

Summary

This randomized controlled trial assesses the efficacy of a 6-week, dissonance-based, weight-gain prevention program (Fit4Duty) designed to reduce unhealthy weight gain among military service members at-risk for obesity. The Fit4Duty program is an adaptation for the military of an existing civilian obesity prevention program, Project Health, which reduced obesity onset by 50% in healthy civilian young adults. Fit4Duty is compared to a nutrition education control condition and is hypothesized to reduce excess weight gain beyond the control comparison program during the 2 year period following study participation.

Conditions

• Obesity
• Overweight
• Adiposity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Fit4Duty

Small (\<9) participant-driven groups meet weekly for 6, 1 hour sessions. Participants design small, gradual healthy lifestyle change plans with added verbal, written, and behavioral exercises designed to elicit dissonance regarding engaging in unhealthy eating and sedentary practices. Participants are asked to voluntarily discuss the health, interpersonal and societal costs of obesity, an unhealthy diet, and sedentary behavior, as well as the benefits of leanness, a healthy diet, and regular physical activity.

OTHER

Nutrition Education

Two, 50 minute educational videos address basic concepts of healthy nutrition and weight management reviewing topics such as macro and micronutrients, the virtue of whole grains, fruit, vegetables and superfoods, the dangers of dehydration and vitamin deficiency. The role of poor eating habits, lack of exercise and cultural and technological issues in America's obesity epidemic is examined. A basic understanding of energy balance is conveyed. The role of nutritional supplements is addressed.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Madigan Army Medical Center

  collaborator FED

• Oregon Research Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Tracy Sbrocco, PhD · Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

• Douglas Maurer, DO, MPH · Madigan Army Medical Center

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-06-30

Primary Completion

2016-12-27

Completion

2017-09-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations