A full discussion of SC interventions also includes approaches that step-down participants from greater intensity treatments to lower intensity intervention. In a step-down design, all participants initially receive the strongest dose of treatment. Thus, they may succeed in starting weight loss efforts with the most intense intervention, including components such as strong social support and accountability offered by a group intervention, didactic instruction, interactive feedback on homework assignments, etc. before transitioning to a lower intensity intervention. Additionally, this model may ameliorate some of the discouraged attitudes and attrition that researchers suggest may arise from the participants’ perceptions of initially being assigned to a group that is not receiving an adequate level of treatment (e.g. a control group; Goldberg & Kiernan, 2005). Benefits of a step-down approach include the cost-saving nature of a programme that transitions successful participants to a treatment level requiring fewer resources. Another potential benefit may also include the provision of continued, low-intensity support to individuals following participation in a more intensive treatment as a means to maintain treatment gains and prevent relapse (Bauer, de Niet, Timman, & Kordy, 2010).