Is Behavioral Treatment of Obesity Effective Essay - 2

Is Behavioral Treatment of Obesity Effective - Essay Example Apart from the high cost of treating and managing obesity and the related health effects, the high prevalence of obesity increases morbidity and mortality. The obesity problem has attracted significant attention from multiple stakeholders including governments, health sector, and researchers. This has resulted in the identification of potential treatment strategies, most of which are related to preventive treatment. One of the proposed preventive treatment approaches for obesity is behavioral treatment. Apparently, obesity is widely regarded as a lifestyle health condition that can be effectively managed through altering our lifestyles. With the real health and cost effects of managing obesity, it is important to consider the effectiveness of proposed treatment approaches. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether behavioral treatment of obesity is effective by analyzing three peer-reviewed articles on the same subject. This article presents the details of an empirical study that sought to compare the effectiveness of behavioral treatment for obesity using three delivery methods including via the internet, in-person, and a hybrid of the internet and in-person. The researchers’ primary purpose of the study was to evaluate the comparative efficacy of delivering a comprehensive behavior treatment for obesity using the three methods. The secondary purpose was the evaluation of perceived social support and treatment adherence to the three treatment delivery methods. To realize these, the researchers recruited 481 overweight adult participants for the longitudinal study which lasted for a period of six months (Harvey-Berino et al., 2010).