APOLO-Teens, a web-based intervention for treatment-seeking adolescents with overweight or obesity: study protocol and baseline characterization of a Portuguese sample

Abstract

Purpose: APOLO-Teens is an ongoing web-based program combining a manualized intervention delivered by Facebook®, a self-monitoring web application and monthly chat sessions to optimize treatment as usual for adolescents with overweight and obesity. The aims of this paper are twofold: (1) to describe the study protocol of the APOLO-Teens randomized controlled effectiveness trial and (2) to present baseline descriptive information of the Portuguese sample. Methods: APOLO-Teens includes adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years with BMI percentile 85 (N = 210; 60.00% girls, BMI z-score 2.40 ± 0.75) undergoing hospital ambulatory treatment for overweight/obesity. Participants completed a set of self-report measures regarding eating behaviors and habits, psychological functioning (depression, anxiety, stress, and impulsivity), physical activity, and quality of life. Results: Depression, anxiety, stress, impulsivity, and percentage body fat were inversely associated with health-related quality of life (rs = 0.39 to 0.62), while physical activity out-of-school was positively correlated with health-related quality of life (rs = 0.22). When compared to boys, girls demonstrated statistically significant higher scores on psychological distress, disturbed eating behaviors, impulsivity, were less active at school and had lower scores on the health-related quality of life (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The results showed that there were gender differences in key psychological constructs that are likely to determine success with the treatment and that, therefore, need to be considered in future interventions. The results of APOLO-Teens randomized controlled trial will determine the impact of these constructs on the efficacy and adherence to a web-based intervention for weight loss in the Portuguese population. Level of evidence:: Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study. (c) 2018, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.