Intervention evaluation using prospective service level data. Families (N = 21 132) with overweight children
are referred, or self-refer, to MEND. Families (participating child and one parent/carer) attend two sessions/week for 10 weeks
(N = 13 998; N = 9563 with complete data from 1788 programmes across England). Sessions address diet and physical activity
through education, skills training and motivational enhancement. MEND was shown to be effective in obese children in a
randomised controlled trial (RCT). Outcomes were mean change in body mass index (BMI), age- and sex-standardised BMI (zBMI),
self-esteem (Rosenberg scale) and psychological distress (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) after the 10-week programme.
Relationships between the outcome and covariates were tested in multilevel models adjusted for the outcome at baseline.