Teens Committed to Health Through Activity, Relationships, and Good Eating

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Schools have been identified as a focal point for intervention because children spend almost half their day in school. On average, school-based interventions have shown modest short-term improvements in weight outcomes. However, considerable individual variation is found within treatments. Current clinical guidelines for childhood obesity recommend a staged treatment approach in which every few months treatment plans are reevaluated based on an individual's progress toward weight outcomes. When an individual doesn't sufficiently progress toward outcome goals, his/her treatment is escalated to be more individualized, include more structure, and greater social support. This method parallels a treatment paradigm used in other areas of medical treatment in which medication type and dose are altered when an individual does not respond to initial care. Obesity treatment provided in the school setting does not follow a similar structure of care. Despite the recognized variation between individuals, school-based obesity interventions are typically evaluated by mean changes in weight outcomes over time. Although this is sufficient to evaluate the efficacy of a program, it does not identify individuals who are not responsive to treatment. Following clinical best practices, it is likely that treatment needs to be escalated for those who do not respond to initial treatment. Currently no escalated treatment options, like that provided in clinical settings, are available in schools. This is a critical gap given the immense individual variability to treatment response and pediatric tracking of BMI. This study will develop and evaluate an escalated school-based treatment for individuals resistant to initial treatment, called Take CHARGE! (Teens Committed to Health through Activity, Relationships, and Good Eating). Specifically, a pilot randomized control trial will A.) examine differences in zBMI between Take CHARGE and a treatment as usual condition over an academic school semester among low SES, racial/ethnic minority youth resistant to initial treatment, and will B.) determine the proportion of students resistant to school-based behavioral obesity treatment. Understanding the proportion of children who are resistant to school-based intervention is a critical first step in treating this high-risk group of children.