In plain language
Helping people lose weight usually involves separate visits to a doctor, a dietitian, an exercise specialist, and sometimes a psychologist. Coordinating all these appointments is complicated, and many people simply drop out. This pilot study asked whether a different model could work: five health professions (medicine, dietetics, exercise physiology, psychology, and nursing) jointly design the program, but a single practitioner — a dietitian — delivers the personalised counselling face to face.
In a three-month randomised controlled trial in the Illawarra region of Australia, 24 overweight or obese adults (aged 25–54) were assigned either to the interdisciplinary program or to usual care, in which nurses provided general national diet and physical activity advice. The intervention group received an individualised diet prescription, specific exercise goals, and psychological support materials based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, including a health coaching workshop run by a clinical psychologist. The main question was whether the approach was feasible and acceptable, and it was: recruitment took only a month, just 13% of participants withdrew (versus 20–50% in comparable trials), and every intervention participant attended every study visit.
Although the study was small and not designed to prove effectiveness, the intervention group lost about 4 kg more than the control group over three months, with greater reductions in body fat, waist circumference, and diastolic blood pressure. These promising results paved the way for the full HealthTrack trial with 377 participants followed for 12 months, testing a model of care that could ease the burden on both patients and the health system.
Key findings
- The interdisciplinary model — designed by five health professions but delivered by a single dietitian — proved feasible and acceptable: recruitment rate was 42%, eligibility rate 83%, and recruitment was completed within one month.
- The withdrawal rate was low (13% overall) compared with the 20–50% reported in similar lifestyle intervention trials.
- Attendance at study visits was 100% in the intervention arm versus 83% in the usual-care (nurse-delivered) control arm.
- After three months the intervention group lost significantly more weight than control (adjusted mean difference −3.98 kg, p = 0.002), with greater reductions in BMI, percent body fat, and waist circumference.
- The intervention group showed a significantly larger drop in diastolic blood pressure and a significant reduction in percent energy from dietary fat, which did not change in the control group.
- The pilot confirmed the protocol for the full HealthTrack study of 377 participants followed over 12 months.
How to cite
APA
Tapsell, L. C., Thorne, R., Batterham, M., Russell, J., Ciarrochi, J., Peoples, G., Lonergan, M., & Martin, A. (2016). Feasibility of a community-based interdisciplinary lifestyle intervention trial on weight loss (the HealthTrack study). Nutrition & Dietetics, 73(4), 321–328. https://doi.org/10.1111/1747-0080.12234
BibTeX
@article{tapsell2016feasibility,
author = {Tapsell, Linda C. and Thorne, Rebecca L. and Batterham, Marijka and Russell, Joanna and Ciarrochi, Joseph and Peoples, Gregory E. and Lonergan, Maureen A. and Martin, Allison},
title = {Feasibility of a community-based interdisciplinary lifestyle intervention trial on weight loss (the HealthTrack study)},
journal = {Nutrition \& Dietetics},
year = {2016},
volume = {73},
number = {4},
pages = {321--328},
doi = {10.1111/1747-0080.12234}
}
Related work
- All publications by Joseph Ciarrochi (searchable, with free PDFs)
- Process-Based Therapy & Idionomic Analysis
Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version via the DOI above.