Publications by authors named "Melanie Bean"

Objective: To examine associations between parent and adolescent weight change within two parent approaches to adolescent obesity treatment.

Methods: Adolescent (M = 13.7 ± 1.

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Children's dietary quality is suboptimal, increasing the risk of numerous chronic illnesses. Salad bars (SBs) have potential to enhance children's nutritional intake within the National School Lunch Program (NSLP); yet, empirical support is lacking. To address this gap, we evaluated the impact of school salad bars on dietary quality and energy intake at lunch.

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Introduction: Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is the most efficacious treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). MOUD uptake and continuation may be impacted by health concerns, including weight gain, and social factors, such as food insecurity, that vary between men and women. This study aimed to describe sex and gender differences in body mass index (BMI) and weight-related demographic, psychosocial, and clinical characteristics among adults receiving buprenorphine for OUD.

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Transgender, non-binary, and gender-diverse (TNG) youth experience disordered eating behaviors (DEBs) for reasons unique to their sociocultural positioning and the specific challenges they face, including gender dysphoria and societal beauty expectations of gender, cissexism, and lack of access to gender affirming medical care. The prevalence of DEBs is considerably and consistently higher in TNG youth compared to their cisgender peers. Nonetheless, there are no DEBs measures tailored to this population.

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This study identified specific feeding and growth topics discussed during 2-, 4-, and 6-month well-child visits. Conversations between mothers (N = 20) and pediatricians (N = 5) during visits were audio-recorded. Conversation segments were classified as pediatrician-initiated guidance, mother-initiated questions/concerns, or updates using directed content analysis.

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The 2021 Expanded Child Tax Credit (ECTC) lifted millions of children out of poverty and drastically improved well-being. These impacts were particularly salient for families with lower income among those who received the full ECTC benefit. This study gathered lived experiences on the ECTC cessation and explored differential impacts across income levels to inform discussions around policy restoration.

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Objective: Families enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) report persistent barriers to purchasing nutritious foods. This mixed-methods study explored SNAP users' food and beverage purchasing patterns and perspectives regarding potential modifications to SNAP to inform the design of SNAP+, a healthy incentive program to increase fruit and vegetable (FV) and decrease sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) purchases.

Methods: Participants were recruited through a non-profit organizational network to participate in an online survey.

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Background: Understanding the effects of family-based lifestyle intervention beyond the treated adolescent is important, given that obesity is a familial disease and there are likely bidirectional relations between an adolescent's treatment success and broader household changes. However, it is unknown if recommended household-wide changes are adopted or if untreated family members experience weight-related benefits.

Methods: TEENS + REACH leverages our ongoing randomized clinical trial of TEENS+, a family-based lifestyle intervention for adolescents with obesity, to determine: 1) if household-wide changes to the shared home environment are implemented, 2) if ripple effects to untreated family members are observed, and 3) whether these changes are predictive of adolescents' weight management success.

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Many schools have salad bars as a means to increase students' fruit and vegetable intake. School nutrition programs experienced drastic changes to the school food environment due to COVID-19. The aim of the current study was to understand cafeteria personnel's experiences related to salad bar implementation before the COVID-19 pandemic and in the current school environment to inform efforts to enhance salad bar sustainability.

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Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), current federal policy mandates a lifetime ban for individuals with a past felony drug conviction from receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. Denying nutritional and financial assistance to individuals with a past felony conviction will widen existing structural health inequities, set back individuals' successful re-entry into society, and contribute to recidivism and poorer health outcomes. Therefore, the Society of Behavioral Medicine supports the RESTORE ACT (Re-Entry Support Through Opportunities for Resources and Essentials Act), which would repeal the lifetime ban on receiving SNAP and TANF benefits for individuals convicted of a drug felony.

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Background: Although adolescents with obesity have heightened risk for eating pathology, the impact of differential parent involvement on eating pathology after obesity treatment is unknown. We examined differences in eating pathology in adolescents whose parents were randomized to distinct interventions within adolescent obesity treatment.

Methods: Participants were 82 adolescent/parent dyads (adolescents: 63 % female; 55 % racial/ethnically marginalized) enrolled in TEENS+, a 4-month behavioral weight loss intervention.

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Background: There is an urgent need for innovative approaches to adolescent obesity treatment, particularly among individuals from racially and ethnically marginalized backgrounds, who face increased risk of obesity and its associated morbidity and mortality. There is a particular dearth of research on the long-term efficacy of adolescent obesity treatments. Further, research and clinical practice guidelines consistently recommend parents' inclusion in their adolescents' obesity treatment, yet the most effective strategy to engage parents in adolescent obesity treatment remains unclear.

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Background: Latina mothers' stress is associated with their children's health behaviors and risk for obesity; however, existing pediatric health promotion programs have not focused on maternal stress reduction.

Methods: Herein we describe a study design that will examine the acceptability and feasibility of Calma, Conversa, y Cría (CCC) a 6-week mindful parenting intervention designed to reduce stress. We present the results of qualitative research with Latina mothers and experts in Latinx health and mindfulness who provided culturally-relevant feedback on existing mindful parenting strategies to inform the development of CCC.

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The Eating Disorders In weight-related Therapy (EDIT) Collaboration brings together data from randomised controlled trials of behavioural weight management interventions to identify individual participant risk factors and intervention strategies that contribute to eating disorder risk. We present a protocol for a systematic review and individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis which aims to identify participants at risk of developing eating disorders, or related symptoms, during or after weight management interventions conducted in adolescents or adults with overweight or obesity. We systematically searched four databases up to March 2022 and clinical trials registries to May 2022 to identify randomised controlled trials of weight management interventions conducted in adolescents or adults with overweight or obesity that measured eating disorder risk at pre- and post-intervention or follow-up.

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Advancements in cancer treatments over the past several decades have led to improved cancer survival in adolescents and young adults (AYAs, ages 15-39 years). However, AYA cancer survivors are at an increased risk for "late effects", including cardiovascular, pulmonary and bone diseases as well as fatigue, infertility and secondary cancers. The treatments for cancer may also alter taste, lead to nutritional deficiencies and increase financial burdens that, when taken together, may increase the risk of food and nutrition security in AYA cancer survivors.

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Background: Most children do not consume the recommended amount of fruit and vegetable (FV) servings. Changing the school food environment can be a cost-efficient, effective approach to improving children's dietary quality. There is great popular support for school salad bars as a means to increase children's FV intake within the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), yet empirical research is limited.

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Objectives: COVID-19 caused stark increases in food insecurity. To maintain food provision, policy changes to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were instated. This longitudinal study examined (1) food security patterns across the timeline of COVID-19; (2) the relationship among food security patterns, NSLP/SNAP use, and parent feeding practices; and (3) parent perceptions of NSLP/SNAP policy changes.

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Objective: To evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a multisystem transition preparation intervention, SHIFT, for young adults (YAs) with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Methods: A single-arm, clinic-based pilot was conducted with 25 YAs with T1D (M age = 18.9 ± 1.

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Importance: The prevalence of obesity has increased substantially among emerging adults, yet no previous large-scale behavioral weight loss trials have been conducted among this age group.

Objective: To test the effect of 2 theory-based motivational enhancements on weight loss within a primarily digital lifestyle intervention designed for emerging adults.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this randomized clinical trial conducted at an academic medical research center, 382 participants aged 18 to 25 years with a body mass index (BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) of 25 to 45 were enrolled between February 2, 2016, and February 6, 2019.

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Temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) during the COVID-19 pandemic provided additional monthly income for US families, with no restrictions on use, from July through December 2021. This study examined food security and children's dietary intake after three months of expanded CTC payments. Parents completed online surveys before and after three months of CTC payments.

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Behavioral weight loss (BWL) for pediatric obesity includes guidance on improving the home food environment and dietary quality; yet food insecurity presents barriers to making these changes. This study examined if home food environment, dietary quality, energy intake, and body weight changes during adolescent obesity treatment differed by food security status, and if changes in the home food environment were associated with changes in dietary quality and energy intake by food security status. Adolescents (n = 82; 13.

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Background: The optimal role for involving parents in adolescent obesity treatment is unknown.

Objective: To demonstrate that two parent approaches within adolescent obesity treatment are distinct, as evidenced by differential parent outcomes, and determine the preliminary efficacy of each approach on adolescent weight loss.

Methods: Adolescent/parent dyads (N = 82; mean adolescent age = 13.

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School salad bars are widely promoted as a means to increase adherence to National School Lunch Program (NSLP) nutrition mandates. Yet it is unknown how salad bars or fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake relates to energy intake within the NSLP, or if F&Vs displace energy from other sources. This relation is particularly important to understand among children from minoritized backgrounds, who are at high risk of obesity and food insecurity, and the most likely to be impacted by school food policies, given their reliance on school meals.

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Objective: Despite widespread support for salad bars as a means to increase fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake within the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), empirical support for their use is limited. This cross-sectional study examined associations between salad bar access and F&V selection and consumption in Title I elementary schools in Virginia serving universal free meals.

Methods: Three matched pairs of schools (3 with salad bars; 3 without [control]) were randomly selected.

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