Intervention
The self-regulatory weight loss intervention was a community
collaborative project using an interdisciplinary approach including
university academic staff, school teachers (health education and
physical exercise teachers), and a nutritionist. The intervention helped
children in the two selected schools to adopt and sustain healthier
lifestyles by enhancing awareness, changing behaviours or creating an
environment that supports good health practices earlier in their early
adolescence in the school settings. Helping adolescents to establish
healthy lifestyles and avoid developing health risk behaviours is crucial
and should be started before these behaviours are firmly established.
The project team has developed a self-regulatory weight management
program in collaboration with university academic staff, paediatric
consultant, school nurses, school principals, school teachers and
parents to support the physical, mental, emotional, behavioural and
social well-being of overweight and obese adolescents. The project also
enjoyed the partnership of non-governmental organizations with the
similar aim of developing healthy adolescents who are capable of being
successful learners.
For overweight and obese adolescents in the intervention group, a
nutritionist with experience and education in dietetics and nutrition
worked with the school food services to guide the progress toward
achieving their goals over time. The nutritionist also provided
consultation for the design of health education talks related to healthy
eating (smart food choices, fewer added sugar beverages, more water
intake, a healthy kitchen, awareness of the broader benefits of a variety
of food choices, and the synergy between physical activity and food
choices). The nutritionist continued to provide guidance to food
providers, delivered nutritional talks to parents and expanded the food
and nutrition messages by designing a series of group activities (one per
month for a total of 10 sessions) to increase their knowledge, enhance
their decision-making skills, promote peer involvement and interaction
in the sharing session and support group, and enhance social influence.