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The Effectiveness of Telemedicine for Weight Management in the MOVE! Program
Author(s) -
Ahrendt April D.,
Kattelmann Kendra K.,
Rector Thomas S.,
Maddox David A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.439
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1748-0361
pISSN - 0890-765X
DOI - 10.1111/jrh.12049
Subject(s) - videoconferencing , weight management , medicine , weight loss , telemedicine , baseline (sea) , cohort , medical record , retrospective cohort study , physical therapy , surgery , computer science , obesity , multimedia , health care , oceanography , geology , economics , economic growth
Purpose To examine the effectiveness of videoconferencing technology for delivering comprehensive weight management treatment. Methods This retrospective cohort study was conducted by extraction of data from medical records for the years 2008‐2010. The treatment included a series of 12 weekly MOVE! ® classes delivered using videoconferencing. Data were extracted from the time of baseline weight to 1 year after baseline weight for the MOVE! participants (n = 60) and from a concurrent control group (n = 60) that did not participate in MOVE! treatment. Findings Results indicated that the MOVE! group lost weight while the control group gained weight, resulting in a mean difference between the groups of −5.5 ± 2.7 kg (95% CI = −8.0 to −3.0; P < .0001). Conclusions These results indicate that videoconferencing is an effective method to provide the MOVE! Weight Management Program to veterans. Weight loss was maintained for one year after baseline in the MOVE! group. This is very promising as weight re‐gain is a common issue and these results support using videoconferencing for a long‐term weight management treatment option.