Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Apr 6, 2022
Open Peer Review Period: Apr 6, 2022 - Jun 1, 2022
Date Accepted: Feb 21, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Efficacy of the Aim2Be app in changing lifestyle behaviours among adolescents with overweight and obesity: Randomized Controlled Trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
Aim2Be is a gamified lifestyle app designed to promote lifestyle behaviour change among Canadian adolescents and their families.
Objective:
Our primary aim was to test the efficacy of the Aim2Be app with support from a live coach to reduce weight outcomes (Body Mass Index Z-score (zBMI)) and improve lifestyle behaviours among adolescents with overweight and obesity and their parents versus a waitlist control group over 3 months. Secondary aims were to compare health trajectories among waitlist control participants over 6 months (before and after receiving access to the app), assess whether support from a live coach enhanced intervention impact, and evaluate app usage influenced changes among intervention participants.
Methods:
A 2-arm parallel randomized control trial was conducted from November 2018 to June 2020. Adolescents aged 10-17 years with overweight or obesity and their parents were randomized into an intervention group (Aim2Be with live coach for 6 months) or a waitlist control group (Aim2Be with no live coach; accessed after 3 months). Adolescents’ assessments at baseline, 3- and 6- months included measured height and weight, 24-hour dietary recalls, and daily step counts measured with a Fitbit. Self-reported physical activity, screen time, fruit and vegetable intake, and sugary beverage intake of adolescents and parents were also collected.
Results:
A total of 214 parent-child participants were randomized. In our primary analyses, there were no significant differences in zBMI or any of the health behaviours between the intervention and control groups at 3 months. Secondary analyses revealed that among waitlist control participants, zBMI (mean difference between phases: -0.10; P=0.023) and discretionary calories (mean difference between phases: -5.8%; P=0.033) declined after receiving app access compared to before receiving app access. Adolescents randomized to Aim2Be with coaching reported more time being active outside of school compared to adolescents who used Aim2Be with no coaching over 3 months (P=0.001). App utilization did not modify any changes in outcomes among adolescents in the intervention group.
Conclusions:
The Aim2Be app did not improve zBMI and lifestyle behaviours in adolescents with overweight and obesity vs. a waitlist control group over 3 months. Future studies should explore the potential mediators of change in zBMI and lifestyle behaviours as well as predictors of engagement. Clinical Trial: The trial was prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03651284) on 29 August 2018.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.