Objective: This review examines the evidence for psychosocial influences in asthma and behavioral medicine approaches to its treatment. Method: We conducted a systematic review of the literature on psychosocial influences and the evidence for behavioral interventions in asthma with a focus on research in the past 10 years and clinical trials.…

Objective: To compare and contrast 5 sets of expert recommendations about the treatment of childhood and adolescent obesity. Method: We reviewed 5 sets of recent expert recommendations: 2007 health care organizations' four stage model, 2007 Canadian clinical practice guidelines, 2008 Endocrine Society recommendations, 2009 seven step model, and…

Efficacy trials indicate that an eating disorder prevention program involving dissonance-inducing activities that decrease thin-ideal internalization reduces risk for current and future eating pathology, yet it is unclear whether this program produces effects under real-world conditions. The present effectiveness trial tested whether this program…

The aim of this study was to replicate and extend results of a previous trial that investigated the effectiveness of 2 peer-led eating disorders prevention interventions in reducing eating disorder risk factors in undergraduate women (C. B. Becker, L. M. Smith, & A. C. Ciao, 2006). To extend findings from the previous study by allowing for…

Adolescent girls with body dissatisfaction (N = 481, SD = 1.4) were randomized to a dissonance-based thin-ideal internalization reduction program, healthy weight control program, expressive writing control condition, or assessment-only control condition. Dissonance participants showed significantly greater decreases in thin-ideal internalization,…

Examined effects of frequency, time, and method of assessment on reports of psychological functioning in 28 obese women who lost an average of 19.2 kilograms in 6 months. Results showed that method of mood assessment may determine the answer to the question of whether dieting is associated with adverse psychological consequences. (NB)

Investigated the effects of dieting and exercise on resting metabolic rate (RMR) in overweight women (N=10). Results showed that dieting lowered RMR by nearly double that expected on the basis of resulting weight loss; and that exercise caused RMR to rise to a level appropriate to prevailing body weight. (LLL)

Several recent studies suggest that daily weighing is important for long-term weight control, but concerns have been raised about possible adverse psychological effects. The "STOP Regain" clinical trial provides a unique opportunity to examine this issue both cross-sectionally and prospectively. Successful weight losers (N = 314) were randomly…

A dietary change intervention based on Gollwitzer's (1993) concept of implementation intentions was used to see whether transitions between transtheoretical model stages could be induced in a field experiment. Participants (N = 554) were randomized to receive either questionnaire-only or questionnaire-plus-implementation intention. Results showed…

Parents of 30 children with phenylketonuria, classified as being in good or poor dietary control, engaged in verbal and written problem-solving situations under conditions of both high and low time-pressure induced stress. Overall, compliant parents gave higher quality verbal and written problem-solving solutions than noncompliant parents.…

Studies have found that individuals with bulimia nervosa can be classified into dietary and dietary-negative affect subtypes and that the latter exhibit greater eating pathology, psychiatric comorbidity, and functional impairment; a more protracted clinical course; and a worse treatment response. In this report, the authors describe 2 prospective…

Identifies the presence and degree of apparent underreporting of dietary intake in the participants in the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Results indicated that up to 31% of the adults in this sample may have underreported and that those at greatest risk for underreporting were less well educated and heavier. (JPS)

Examined attrition and weight loss in 235 female obese binge eaters, episodic overeaters, and nonbingers in 26-week program of behavior modification/very low calorie diet. Found no significant differences among conditions in number of program completers. Episodic overeaters were more likely than others to drop out during last seven weeks of…

Compared the effectiveness of diet with diet-plus-life-style exercise in overweight families (N=53). Results indicated that the addition of exercise to a diet improves the amount of relative weight change at six months and one year in adults. No treatment differences were found for children after one year. (LLL)

Assessed the effectiveness of a combined program of very low calorie diet and behavior therapy in treating obesity. Combined treatment and behavior therapy alone subjects maintained weight losses; none of the diet alone subjects met the criterion used to define maintenance. Only those receiving behavior therapy alone and combined treatment showed…