Evaluation of a Multi-faceted School-based Intervention for Adolescents who are Overweight or Obese

Childhood obesity and overweight have become growing problems in the United States, and research results increasingly suggest they have negative effects on children’s health status, psychosocial functioning, and academic achievement. Researchers have recently advocated for the involvement of school psychologists in remediating obesity and overweight in schools. This may be due to both the nature of the outcomes related to childhood obesity and overweight and the expertise of school psychologists in designing and implementing behavior change interventions and affecting system change. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate a multi-component school-based intervention for adolescents who are overweight or obese using a multiple baseline across participants with changing criterion design. The intervention components included self-monitoring of physical activity, nutrition and lifestyle education, and motivational interviewing. Results suggest that as a result of participation in the multi-component intervention, participants increased their physical activity and may have improved their knowledge of healthful nutrition and their nutritive intake, but did not experience changes in their locus of control or self-efficacy related to weight loss behaviors. Intervention acceptability was rated as high by both participants and their guardians. Results add to the literature base of effective school-based weight interventions for high school students that can be implemented by school psychologists