A Text Message Intervention for Weight Management in Childhood Obesity at the Pediatric Office

Childhood overweight and obesity is a major public health problem affecting one-third of children and adolescents in the United States, it has been linked to significant health risks and comorbid conditions in children and adults as it has direct associations with chronic health problems in children and adults not limited to diabetes, dyslipidemia, heart disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and many others. Childhood obesity is usually diagnosed and managed at the primary care office but having secondary prevention policy will have a bigger impact as obesity has been shown to be significantly correlated with observable behaviors, and having behavior change interventions will be easiest way to improve the health outcome. Sending a text message encouraging certain behavior changes to the parents of children ranging from 2 to 18 years of age with BMIs of more than the 95 percentiles for their age during their pediatric primary care visits. Sending a text messages weekly for 6 months encouraging certain behavior changes to the parents as SMS text can serve as cue to action according to the Health Belief Model (HBM) which triggers the decisionmaking process to accept a recommended health action. RESEARCH ARtiClE