Identifying the behavior change techniques used in obesity interventions: An example from the EARLY trials.

Objective: The dissemination of effective obesity interventions requires the documentation of key elements of the intervention. But outcome papers and other published manuscripts often lack detail that allow the replication of the intervention. The Behavior Change Technique (BCT) Taxonomy (BCTTv1) is a widely used approach to identify key elements of an intervention study.

College student motivations for and perceived impacts of volunteering with a nutrition and cooking education program for children.

To assess among college students their motivations for and perceived impacts of volunteering with Cooking Matters for Kids as part of No Kid Hungry NC. Seventeen college student volunteers responded to an online survey questionnaire assessing their motivations for volunteering and how they were impacted by their experiences. Motivational functions for volunteering (values, understanding, social, career, protective, enhancement) were assessed using the Volunteer Functions Inventory.

Cooking Matters for Kids Improves Attitudes and Self-Efficacy Related to Healthy Eating and Cooking.

Objective: To assess changes in self-efficacy and attitudes related to healthy eating and cooking in Cooking Matters for Kids participants.

Design: Prepost study design.

Setting: Cooking Matters for Kids programs offered by 35 organizations.

All of That Causes Me Stress: An Exploration of the Sources of Stress Experienced by Latinxs Living with Prediabetes.

Latinxs immigrants in the United States experience sources of stress (i.e., stressors) that can limit their ability to engage in healthy behaviors.

The role of stress responses on engagement in dietary and physical activity behaviors among Latino adults living with prediabetes.

Objectives: Latinos are at a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D). Prediabetes is a major risk factor for T2D; however, progression to T2D can be slowed with engagement in healthy behaviors. Stress can hinder engagement with health behaviors.

Is late bedtime an overlooked sleep behaviour? Investigating associations between sleep timing, sleep duration and eating behaviours in adolescence and adulthood.

Objective: To examine whether bedtime is associated with usual sleep duration and eating behaviour among adolescents, emerging adults and young adults.

Design: Cross-sectional multivariable regression models, stratified by developmental stage, to examine: (1) association between bedtime and sleep duration and (2) associations between bedtime and specific eating behaviours at each developmental period, controlling for sleep duration. All models adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, depressive symptoms and screen time behaviours.

Sleep duration and body mass: direction of the associations from adolescence to young adulthood.

Research suggests that sleep duration and obesity are related, but the direction of this association remains uncertain. We applied autoregressive cross-lag models to evaluate the directionality of the relationship between sleep duration and BMI from adolescence through emerging and young adulthood, life stages where the risk for developing obesity are particularly high. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), we examined sex-stratified associations between sleep duration and BMI in this cohort from adolescence (ages 12-18, year 1996), to emerging adulthood (ages 18-24, 2001-2002), to young adulthood (ages 24-32, 2008), controlling for key confounders.

Accumulating Data to Optimally Predict Obesity Treatment (ADOPT) Core Measures: Behavioral Domain.

Background: The ability to identify and measure behaviors that are related to weight loss and the prevention of weight regain is crucial to understanding the variability in response to obesity treatment and the development of tailored treatments.

Objectives: The overarching goal of the Accumulating Data to Optimally Predict obesity Treatment (ADOPT) Core Measures Project is to provide obesity researchers with guidance on a set of constructs and measures that are related to weight control and that span and integrate obesity-related behavioral, biological, environmental, and psychosocial domains. This article describes how the behavioral domain subgroup identified the initial list of high-priority constructs and measures to be included, and it describes practical considerations for assessing the following four behavioral areas: eating, activity, sleep, and self-monitoring of weight.

State-Level Point-of-Sale Tobacco News Coverage and Policy Progression Over a 2-Year Period.

Background: Mass media content may play an important role in policy change. However, the empirical relationship between media advocacy efforts and tobacco control policy success has rarely been studied. We examined the extent to which newspaper content characteristics (volume, slant, frame, source, use of evidence, and degree of localization) that have been identified as important in past descriptive studies were associated with policy progression over a 2-year period in the context of point-of-sale (POS) tobacco control.

Measures of the food environment: A systematic review of the field, 2007-2015.

Background: Many studies have examined the relationship between the food environment and health-related outcomes, but fewer consider the integrity of measures used to assess the food environment. The present review builds on and makes comparisons with a previous review examining food environment measures and expands the previous review to include a more in depth examination of reliability and validity of measures and study designs employed.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of studies measuring the food environment published between 2007 and 2015.

Weight-Gain Reduction Among 2-Year College Students: The CHOICES RCT.

Introduction: The young adult years have been recognized as an influential period for excess weight gain. Non-traditional students and those attending 2-year community colleges are at particularly high risk for a range of adverse weight-related outcomes.

Design: Choosing Healthy Options in College Environments and Settings was an RCT with students randomly assigned into a control or intervention condition after baseline assessment.

Multilevel analysis exploring the links between stress, depression, and sleep problems among two-year college students.

Objective: This study explored the association of stress and depression with a multidimensional sleep problems construct in a sample of 2-year college students.

Participants: The sample consisted of 440 students enrolled in 2-year study from Fall 2011 to Fall 2013.

Methods: Participants in an obesity prevention study completed surveys assessing sleep, stress, and depression at baseline, 4, 12, and 24 months.

Is frequency of fast food and sit-down restaurant eating occasions differentially associated with less healthful eating habits?

Studies have shown that frequency of fast food restaurant eating and sit-down restaurant eating is differentially associated with nutrient intakes and biometric outcomes. The objective of this study was to examine whether frequency of fast food and sit-down restaurant eating occasions was differentially associated with less healthful eating habits, independent of demographic characteristics. Data were collected from participants in 2015 enrolled in a worksite nutrition intervention trial ( = 388) in North Carolina who completed self-administered questionnaires at baseline.

A randomized trial to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage and juice intake in preschool-aged children: description of the Smart Moms intervention trial.

Background: Obesity in young children remains a public health concern, and maternal weight is one of the strongest predictors of obesity in early childhood. However, parental adherence in interventions for young children is often low and existing programs have had mixed success. An innovative approach to treatment is needed that increases adherence among mothers and improves weight-related behaviors simultaneously in mothers and children.

Setting the agenda for a healthy retail environment: content analysis of US newspaper coverage of tobacco control policies affecting the point of sale, 2007-2014.

Background: Tobacco control policies affecting the point of sale (POS) are an emerging intervention, yet POS-related news media content has not been studied.

Purpose: We describe news coverage of POS tobacco control efforts and assess relationships between article characteristics, including policy domains, frames, sources, localisation and evidence present, and slant towards tobacco control efforts.

Methods: High circulation state (n=268) and national (n=5) newspapers comprised the sampling frame.

Deconstructing interventions: approaches to studying behavior change techniques across obesity interventions.

Deconstructing interventions into the specific techniques that are used to change behavior represents a new frontier in behavioral intervention research. This paper considers opportunities and challenges in employing the Behavior Change Techniques Taxonomy (BCTTv1) developed by Michie and colleagues, to code the behavior change techniques (BCTs) across multiple interventions addressing obesity and capture dose received at the technique level. Numerous advantages were recognized for using a shared framework for intervention description.

Results of a 2-year randomized, controlled obesity prevention trial: Effects on diet, activity and sleep behaviors in an at-risk young adult population.

Excess weight gain tends to occur in young adulthood. However, research examining effective weight-related interventions for this age group has been limited. As one of seven trials in the EARLY Trials consortium (Early Adult Reduction of weight through LifestYle intervention), the CHOICES Study (Choosing Healthy Options in College Environments and Settings) tested effects of a technology-integrated, young adult weight gain prevention intervention.

Breakfast and fast food consumption are associated with selected biomarkers in adolescents.

Objective: Skipping breakfast and consuming fast food are related to the risk of obesity and are common adolescent behaviors. The relationship between these behaviors and biomarkers related to diabetes and CVD is understudied in this population.

Methods: Data are from a study of the etiologic factors related to obesity risk in adolescents.

Recruiting and retaining young adults in a weight gain prevention trial: Lessons learned from the CHOICES study.

Background/aims: Young adults are at risk of weight gain, but little is known about designing effective weight control trials for young adults or how to recruit and retain participants in these programs. The Choosing Healthy Options in College Environments and Settings (CHOICES) study evaluated the effectiveness of a weight gain prevention intervention for 2-year college students. We describe the methods used to recruit and retain the colleges and their students, describe the sample and discuss recommendations for future studies.

Stress, Health Risk Behaviors, and Weight Status Among Community College Students.

The objective of this study was to describe the relationship between stress, weight-related health risk behaviors (e.g., eating behaviors, physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep, cigarette smoking, and binge drinking), and weight status using cross-sectional data on 2-year community college students enrolled in a randomized controlled weight gain prevention trial.

A 2-year young adult obesity prevention trial in the US: Process evaluation results.

Our objective was to conduct a process evaluation of the CHOICES (Choosing Healthy Options in College Environments and Settings) study, a large, randomized, controlled trial designed to prevent unhealthy weight gain in young adults (aged 18-35) attending 2-year community colleges in the USA. The 24-month intervention consisted of participation in an academic course and a social networking and support website. Among intervention participants, completion rates for most course activities were >80%, reflecting a high level of dose received.

Weight and weight-related behaviors among 2-year college students.

Unlabelled: OBJECTIVES AND PARTICIPANTS: The purpose of this article is to describe weight indicators and weight-related behaviors of students enrolled in 2-year colleges, including sex differences.

Methods: During Fall 2011 and Spring 2012, 441 students from 3 Minnesota community colleges enrolled in the Choosing Healthy Options in College Environments and Settings (CHOICES) Study and completed baseline assessments. Participants completed a baseline survey evaluating eating and activity patterns, sleep, and stress and measures of height, weight, waist circumference, and body fat.

How we eat what we eat: identifying meal routines and practices most strongly associated with healthy and unhealthy dietary factors among young adults.

Objective: (i) To examine associations between young adults' meal routines and practices (e.g. food preparation, meal skipping, eating on the run) and key dietary indicators (fruit/vegetable, fast-food and sugar-sweetened beverage intakes) and (ii) to develop indices of protective and risky meal practices most strongly associated with diet.