sustain healthier lifestyles. The intervention addresses diet and physical
activity through education, skills training and motivational enhancement.
Because of the importance of family involvement for behaviour change,
the intervention requires a parent or carer to attend all 20 sessions (over
10 weeks). The MEND 7–13 intervention was developed to be delivered in
community settings such as schools or leisure centres12 and delivered by a
wide range of health, physical activity and social care professionals.
Children are eligible if they are between 7 and 13 years old and overweight
or obese (hereafter referred to as overweight, defined as exceeding the
91st centile of the UK 1990 BMI reference). MEND 7–13 was demonstrated
in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to be effective in reducing BMI of
obese children at 6 months from baseline.12