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Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared obesity as the largest global chronic health problem in adults. In the last years, attention has been drawn to rehabilitative interventions for patients with obesity., Aim: The aim of this manuscript is to provide Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) physicians with evidence-based recommendations for the rehabilitation of patients with overweight or obesity and related comorbidities., Design: Evidence-based guidelines., Population: Adults with overweight or obesity., Methods: Guidelines were based on GRADE and WHO recommendations. A comprehensive search of the available evidence about rehabilitation treatments for obesity was performed, and 17 separate systematic literature reviews were conducted. For each outcome, estimates of the effects of rehabilitation treatments were computed and employed along with an assessment of quality of evidence, desirable and undesirable effects, values and preferences to formulate the recommendations. Recommendations were reviewed by a consensus expert panel using a modified Delphi process., Results: We strongly recommend providing comprehensive multiprofessional and multidisciplinary interventions including exercise, diet and behavioral or cognitive-behavioral therapy. The nutritional component of these treatments should include diets with either a high-protein or a low-fat content. It is strongly recommended to prescribe frequent moderate aerobic exercise. We strongly recommend providing cognitive-behavioral interventions as the behavioral component of rehabilitation programs., Conclusions: PRM physicians should lead multidisciplinary teams providing comprehensive and individualized rehabilitation programs for patients with overweight or obesity. These guidelines were endorsed by the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM) and by the European Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ESPRM).

Background: Obesity and the state of being overweight are increasing steadily and becoming a global epidemic. Recent research reports 64% of the adult population as overweight in Europe and the USA. The social and economic impacts are increasing, and most of the rehabilitation programs, while effective in the short term, do not produce long-lasting results. An explanatory model from a behavioral perspective can describe the phenomena with the lack of sources of reinforcement related to healthful habits in a daily life context., Methods/design: A randomized clinical trial combining single-subject studies and a four-arm group design will be conducted to compare the effect of the current standard in obesity treatment to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and wearable technology at different times, before starting intervention, at the end, and at follow-up visits of 3, 6, and 12 months measuring changes over time of physical activity and psychological well-being., Discussion: The goal of this project, combining ACT and wearable technology, is to develop an effective intervention, efficient and sustainable, which even after discharge can provide adequate contingencies of reinforcement in the natural environment, integrating systematic measurements, continuous feedback, and individualized, values-based objectives. The intervention is aimed to provide a contingent reinforcement for healthful behaviors instead of reinforcing only the achievement of a significant weight loss. The aim of the project, combining Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Wearable Technology, is to develop an effective, efficient and sustainable intervention able to provide a contingent reinforcement for healthy behaviors. The intervention is aimed to promote adequate healthy behaviors in the natural environment, integrating systematic measurements, continuous feedback and individualized values-based objectives, instead of reinforcing only the achievement of a significant weight loss., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03351712 . Registered on 24 November 2017.

Objective: Binge eating disorder (BED) is frequently linked with obesity and related health risks like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The purpose of this randomized clinical trial (RCT) was to determine the effectiveness of brief strategic therapy (BST) compared with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) 1 year after a two-phase inpatient and outpatient-telemedicine treatment for BED., Method: Italian women with BED and comorbid obesity were recruited from a self-referred inpatient treatment program for weight loss (N = 60) and randomly assigned to either the BST treatment condition (n = 30) or CBT treatment condition (n = 30). Inpatient psychotherapy sessions were conducted in person and outpatient telemedicine psychotherapy sessions were conducted over the telephone. Multilevel growth curve modeling was used to estimate average growth trajectories from baseline to 1 year after treatment for the following outcomes: binge eating frequency, weight, and global functioning., Results: One year after treatment, women in the BST condition decreased in binge eating frequency and women in the CBT condition did not, whereas women in both conditions improved in weight and global functioning. BST was statistically and clinically superior to CBT in improving binge eating frequency, weight, and global functioning., Conclusions: Examining BED, given the current obesity epidemic, is an important area of study. Findings suggest that BST is statistically and clinically more effective than CBT in treating BED, promoting weight loss, and improving global functioning among women with BED and comorbid obesity 1 year after treatment. Telemedicine may be instrumental in reducing attrition. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).)

Background: Weight loss is challenging and maintenance of weight loss is problematic. Web-based programs offer good potential for delivery of interventions for weight loss or weight loss maintenance. However, the precise impact of Web-based weight management programs is still unclear., Objective: The purpose of this meta-systematic review was to provide a comprehensive summary of the efficacy of Web-based interventions for weight loss and weight loss maintenance., Methods: Electronic databases were searched for systematic reviews and meta-analyses that included at least one study investigating the effect of a Web-based intervention on weight loss and/or weight loss maintenance among samples of overweight and/or obese individuals. Twenty identified reviews met the inclusion criteria. The Revised Assessment of Multiple SysTemAtic Reviews (R-AMSTAR) was used to assess methodological quality of reviews. All included reviews were of sufficient methodological quality (R-AMSTAR score ≥22). Key methodological and outcome data were extracted from each review., Results: Web-based interventions for both weight loss and weight loss maintenance were more effective than minimal or control conditions. However, when contrasted with comparable non-Web-based interventions, results were less consistent across reviews., Conclusions: Overall, the efficacy of weight loss maintenance interventions was stronger than the efficacy of weight loss interventions, but further evidence is needed to more clearly understand the efficacy of both types of Web-based interventions., Trial Registration: PROSPERO 2015: CRD42015029377; http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.asp? ID=CRD42015029377 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6qkSafdCZ)., (©Angela Sorgente, Giada Pietrabissa, Gian Mauro Manzoni, Federica Re, Susan Simpson, Sara Perona, Alessandro Rossi, Roberto Cattivelli, Marco Innamorati, Jeffrey B Jackson, Gianluca Castelnuovo. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 26.06.2017.)

Purpose: To examine the factorial structure of the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment Scale (IT-URICA) for weight management in a sample of Italian overweight and obese patients enrolled in a nutritional rehabilitation program., Methods: 334 inpatients completed the translated and adjusted version of the IT-URICA at admission to the hospital. Psychometric testing included confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency (Cronbach's α)., Results: The IT-URICA for weight management was successfully translated into Italian, and the factorial analysis confirmed the four-factor solution of the commonly accepted version of the measure., Conclusion: High levels of RTC are considered critical to the long-term success of weight management, and the IT-URICA may be an appropriate measure of motivational readiness for use among Italian overweight and obese patients. Its use is, therefore, recommended for clinical and research purposes.

The present study had two aims: (1) to investigate life-events that obese inpatients think happened to them during the 6 months preceding their subjective problematic weight gain and (2) to evaluate the associations of such life-events with psychopathology controlling for the effects of gender, age, BMI and binge eating in a large sample of obese inpatients referred to hospital for weight-loss treatment. The analysis used cross-sectional data on 2,900 obese adults from the hospital database. Psychopathology was assessed with the SCL-90 questionnaire, binge eating was evaluated with the Bulimic Investigatory Test, Edinburgh (BITE) and life-events were retrospectively assessed with a pre-defined self-report checklist asking patients to select the events that occurred to them in the 6 months preceding their problematic weight gain. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to test the association between a pre-defined classification of patients according to the kind of life-events ("no event", "undefined events", "negative events" and "mixed events") with psychopathology controlling for gender, age, BMI and binge eating. The life-events factor was significantly associated with psychopathology even after adjusting for the effects of gender, age, BMI and binge eating. A significant linear trend was evident so that obese patients who reported both negative and undefined events or only negative events had higher levels of psychopathology than patients reporting only undefined events or no event. Though these findings should be considered with caution due to the subjective recall of problematic weight gain and the retrospective assessment of life-events, future studies investigating the link between obesity and psychopathology should not ignore the role of negative life-events that obese patients think happened to them before weight gain.

Background: Overweight and obesity are linked with binge eating disorder (BED). Effective interventions to significantly reduce weight, maintain weight loss and manage associated pathologies like BED are typically combined treatment options (dietetic, nutritional, physical, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, pharmacological, surgical). Significant difficulties with regard to availability, costs, treatment adherence and long-term efficacy are present. Particularly Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the therapeutic approach indicated both in in-patient and in out-patient settings for BED. In recent years systemic and systemic-strategic psychotherapies have been implemented to treat patients with obesity and BED involved in familiar problems. Particularly a brief protocol for the systemic-strategic treatment of BED, using overall the strategic dialogue, has been recently developed. Moreover telemedicine, a new promising low cost method, has been used for obesity with BED in out-patient settings in order to avoid relapse after the in-patient step of treatment and to keep on a continuity of care with the involvement of the same clinical in-patient team., Methods: The comparison between CBT and Brief Strategic Therapy (BST) will be assessed in a two-arm randomized controlled clinical trial. Due to the novelty of the application of BST in BED treatment (no other RCTs including BST have been carried out), a pilot study will be carried out before conducting a large scale randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT). Both CBT and BST group will follow an in-hospital treatment (diet, physical activity, dietitian counseling, 8 psychological sessions) plus 8 out-patient telephone-based sessions of psychological support and monitoring with the same in-patient psychotherapists. Primary outcome measure of the randomized trial will be the change in the Global Index of the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45.2). Secondary outcome measures will be the percentage of BED patients remitted considering the number of weekly binge episodes and the weight loss. Data will be collected at baseline, at discharge from the hospital (c.a. 1 month after) and after 6-12-24 months from the end of the in-hospital treatment. Data at follow-up time points will be collected through tele-sessions., Discussion: The STRATOB (Systemic and STRATegic psychotherapy for OBesity), a comprehensive two-phase stepped down program enhanced by telepsychology for the medium-term treatment of obese people with BED seeking intervention for weight loss, will shed light about the comparison of the effectiveness of the BST with the gold standard CBT and about the continuity of care at home using a low-level of telecare (mobile phones)., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01096251

Gianluca Castelnuovo,1,2 Giada Pietrabissa,1,2 Gian Mauro Manzoni,1,3 Roberto Cattivelli,1,2 Alessandro Rossi,1 Margherita Novelli,1 Giorgia Varallo,1 Enrico Molinari1,2 1Psychology Research Laboratory, Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS, San Giuseppe Hospital, Verbania, 2Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan, Milan, 3Faculty of Psychology, eCampus University, Novedrate, Italy Abstract: Obesity is a chronic condition associated with risk factors for many medical ­complications and comorbidities such as cardiovascular diseases, some types of cancer, osteoarthritis, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hypercholesterolemia, type-2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, and different psychosocial issues and psychopathological disorders. Obesity is a highly complex, multifactorial disease: genetic, biological, psychological, behavioral, familial, social, cultural, and environmental factors can influence in different ways. Evidence-based strategies to improve weight loss, maintain a healthy weight, and reduce related comorbidities typically integrate different interventions: dietetic, nutritional, physical, behavioral, psychological, and if necessary, pharmacological and surgical ones. Such treatments are implemented in a multidisciplinary context with a clinical team composed of endocrinologists, nutritionists, dietitians, physiotherapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and sometimes surgeons. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is traditionally recognized as the best established treatment for binge eating disorder and the most preferred intervention for obesity, and could be considered as the first-line treatment among psychological approaches, especially in a long-term perspective; however, it does not necessarily produce a successful weight loss. Traditional CBT for weight loss and other protocols, such as enhanced CBT, enhanced focused CBT, behavioral weight loss treatment, therapeutic education, acceptance and commitment therapy, and sequential binge, are discussed in this review. The issue of long-term weight management of obesity, the real challenge in outpatient settings and in lifestyle modification, is discussed taking into account the possible contribution of mHealth and the stepped-care approach in health care. Keywords: overweight, BED, ACT, BWL, BWLT, mHealth, virtual reality, chronic care management, stepped care