Psychosocial Characteristics by Weight Loss and Engagement in a Digital Intervention Supporting Self-Management of Weight

Ellen S. Mitchell, Qiuchen Yang, Heather Behr, Annabell Ho, Laura DeLuca, Christine N. May and Andreas Michaelides
Additional contact information
Ellen S. Mitchell: Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA
Qiuchen Yang: Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA
Heather Behr: Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA
Annabell Ho: Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA
Laura DeLuca: Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA
Christine N. May: Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA
Andreas Michaelides: Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: There is substantial variability in weight loss outcomes. Psychosocial characteristics underlying outcomes require better understanding, particularly on self-managed digital programs. This cross-sectional study examines differences in psychosocial characteristics by weight loss and engagement outcome, and which characteristics are most associated with weight loss, on a self-managed digital weight loss program. Some underexplored psychosocial characteristics are included, such as flourishing, or a sense of meaning and purpose in life. A questionnaire was emailed to a random sample of 10,000 current users at week 5 in the program and 10,000 current users at week 17. The questionnaire was completed by 2225 users, and their self-reported weight and recorded program engagement data were extracted from the program’s database. Multiple comparison tests indicated that mental health quality of life, depression, anxiety, work-life balance, and flourishing differed by weight loss outcome at program end (week 17; ?5%, 2–5%, below 2%) and by engagement tertile at program beginning and end (weeks 5 and 17). Only anxiety was associated with weight loss in a backward stepwise regression controlling for engagement and sociodemographic characteristics. Flourishing did not predict weight loss overall but predicted the weight loss outcome group. Our findings have implications for creating more effective interventions for individuals based on psychosocial characteristics and highlight the potential importance of anxiety in underexplored self-managed digital programs.

Keywords: self-managed digital program; digital health; demographics; weight loss (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1712/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1712/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1712-:d:497315

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().