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Engagement with Digital Weight Loss Intervention Components and Weight Outcomes

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Abstract

This secondary analysis sought to understand how engagement with individual intervention components relates to outcomes. Young adults were randomly assigned to (1) targeted, (2) tailored, or (3) contact control groups in which content was delivered via Facebook, text messaging, and feedback reports. Participants were given one point for each component with which they engaged per week, for a maximum of 78 possible points over 6 months. Tertiles of engagement were defined as follows: low engagement (0–51% engaged), moderate engagement (52–66% engaged), and high engagement (67–100% engaged). Of the 354 participants with 6-month weight measurement, overall engagement decreased 33.6% from weeks 1 to 26 and was related to weight loss (p < 0.01) with high-engaged participants losing 1.8 kg more than low-engaged participants (p < 0.01). For every 10% increase in month 1 Facebook engagement, participants lost 0.34 kg (p < 0.01), which may have been driven by the targeted group (0.41 kg, p = 0.03). For every 10% engagement increase in the feedback report over 6 months, participants lost 0.27 kg (p = 0.02), which may have been driven by the tailored group (0.45 kg, p < 0.01). Weight loss interventions should consider increasing media use and personalized feedback for greater efficacy.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrial.gov Identifier: NCT02342912.

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Data Availability

De-identified data from this study are not available in a public archive. Deidentified data that support the findings of this study will be made available (as allowable according to institutional IRB standards) 6 months following publication for 5 years to researchers submitting a specific request and data sharing agreement to the corresponding author.

Analytic Code Availability

Analytic code used to conduct the analyses presented are not available in a public archive. They may be available by emailing the corresponding author.

Materials Availability

Some of the materials used to conduct the study including intervention protocols, and examples of intervention content are available in (Napolitano et al., 2017).

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Funding

Research reported in this manuscript was supported by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01DK100916 to MA Napolitano. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Exercise and Health Sciences Program, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd, Science Center, 2nd Floor, Boston, MA, 02125, USA

    Jessica A. Whiteley & Jamie Faro

  2. Biostatistics Center, The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, 950 New Hampshire Ave, Washington, DC, 20052, USA

    Ashley H. Tjaden

  3. Department of Prevention and Community Health, The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, 950 New Hampshire Ave, Washington, DC, 20052, USA

    Caitlin P. Bailey & Melissa A. Napolitano

  4. Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, 950 New Hampshire Ave, Washington, DC, 20052, USA

    Loretta DiPietro & Melissa A. Napolitano

  5. Department of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA, 02125, USA

    Laura L. Hayman

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  1. Jessica A. Whiteley
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  7. Melissa A. Napolitano
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the current study conceptualization and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Jessica A. Whiteley, Ashley H. Tjaden, Jamie Faro, Loretta DiPietro, and Melissa A. Napolitano. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Jessica A. Whiteley, Jamie Faro, and Melissa A. Napolitano, and all authors commented on subsequent versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melissa A. Napolitano.

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Ethics Approval

The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Boards of The George Washington University (#121325) and the University of Massachusetts Boston (#2014046).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Whiteley, J.A., Tjaden, A.H., Bailey, C.P. et al. Engagement with Digital Weight Loss Intervention Components and Weight Outcomes. J. technol. behav. sci. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-024-00388-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-024-00388-9

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