Episodic Future Thinking and Weight-Loss

Summary

Family-based treatments (FBT) for obesity have been shown to be effective in achieving significant weight reductionin overweight or obese children and parents \[Altman \& Wilfley, 2015\]. One component of the current FBT programused in this study that has received little attention is thought training, specifically episodic future thinking (EFT). EFTteaches individuals to pre-experience events, or think prospectively, about future events as if they were happeningnow and has been shown to reduce delay discounting (DD) which is defined as discounting smaller rewards now for a larger reward in the \[Daniel, Said, Stanton, \& Epstein\]. Furthermore, EFT has been shown to help people purchase fewer calories when they are grocery shopping \[Hollis-Hansen et al., 2019\], thereby displaying potential to be an effective measure in modulating the food environment in homes and may play a role in changing eating behaviors related to weight loss \[Appelhaus et al.,2019\].

Given the power of EFT in promoting the purchase of fewer calories, it is plausible that EFT training focused around grocery shopping during FBT could help shift one's thought processes towards healthier food choices, promoting behavioral change that has lasting impact on the home environment. Thus, the primary purpose of this study is to assess whether EFT training promotes active behavioral change pertaining to grocery shopping during FBT. In turn,this resulting behavior change could lead to healthier eating behavior and may promote weight loss for the whole family.

We hypothesize:

* There will be a reduction in BMI for adults/percent over BMI for children and weight from baseline
* There will be a reduction in delay discounting for children

Conditions

• Overweight and Obesity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Episodic Future Thinking Group

Participants in the Episodic Future Thinking (EFT) Group will train with EFT throughout the entire study. As part of the training, research staff will help participants create "cues." Cues are descriptions of future events the participant can vividly imagine as happening right now. Participants will be instructed to think about the EFT cues they created to help them focus on the future and importance of reaching their weight-loss goals. Participants will be instructed to use their EFT cues at least once per day, but will be encouraged to use their cues with every eating and physical activity decision.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

  collaborator NIH

• Washington University School of Medicine

  collaborator OTHER

• State University of New York at Buffalo

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Leonard Epstein, PhD · State University of New York at Buffalo

• Denise Wilfley, PhD · Washington University School of Medicine

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

10 Years

Max Age

14 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-05-31

Primary Completion

2020-06-20

Completion

2020-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations