ARS | Publication request: Problems and possible solutions for interventions among children and adolescents

Submitted to: Oxford University Press
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: January 1, 2010
Publication Date: July 1, 2010
Citation: Baranowski, T., Baranowski, J., Cullen, K., Hingle, M., Hughes, S., Jago, R., Ledoux, T., Mendoza, J., Nguyen, T., O'Connor, T., Thompson, D.J., Watson, K.B. 2010. Problems and possible solutions for interventions among children and adolescents. In O'Dea, J.A, Eriksen, M. editors. Childhood Obesity Prevention, International Research, Controversies, and Interventions. Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press. p. 408-421.

Technical Abstract: This chapter provides an overview of childhood obesity causes and a discussion about the efficacy of potential preventive interventions. Interventions for obesity prevention generally have had no or limited effects with no obvious patterns in findings to guide program development. This chapter assumes imbalances in dietary intake and physical activity account for most of the problem. To elucidate the problems in obesity prevention research, the Mediating Moderating Variable Model (MMVM) is used to deconstruct the variables and pathways from intervention design to change in adiposity, and thereby elucidate problems at each step in intervention design, implementation, and evaluation. As more is learned about these causal pathways, intervention protocols may be developed that offer different or different intensity interventions in subgroups that may need different procedures.