Health technology assessment : HTA
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Health Technol Assess · Jan 2017
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyRandomised controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of 'Families for Health', a family-based childhood obesity treatment intervention delivered in a community setting for ages 6 to 11 years.
Effective programmes to help children manage their weight are required. 'Families for Health' focuses on a parenting approach, designed to help parents develop their parenting skills to support lifestyle change within the family. Families for Health version 1 showed sustained reductions in mean body mass index (BMI) z-score after 2 years in a pilot project. ⋯ Families for Health was neither effective nor cost-effective for the management of obesity in children aged 6-11 years, in comparison with usual care. Further exploration of the wide range of responses in BMI z-score in children following the Families for Health and usual-care interventions is warranted, focusing on children who had a clinically significant benefit and those who showed a worse outcome with treatment. Further research could focus on the role of parents in the prevention of obesity, rather than treatment.