| Objective. The purpose of this research was to pilot the effects of a mindful-eating intervention delivered through telephonic health coaching on eating behaviors and self-reported weight in male and female adults in a workplace population.;Design. Subjects were recruited from UAW-GM Center for Human Resources and the University of Rhode Island (URI). Subjects were randomized into intervention (n=7) and control (n=3) groups. Delayed treatment was administered to the control group post-experimental intervention. Data were collected at three time points: baseline, completion of intervention (7 weeks) and follow up (14 weeks).;Intervention. Weekly, individual, 30-minute telephonic coaching sessions for 7 weeks and independent mindful-eating homework. Curriculum content included education in within meal awareness, non-physiological cues of meal initiation, mindful-environment, and external cues of meal cessation.;Main outcome measures. Key variables assessed included changes in self-reported weight, body mass index (BMI), and eating behavior measures, including the Weight Related Eating Questionnaire (WREQ), the Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ), and Intuitive Eating Scale (IES). In addition, the acceptability of the intervention was evaluated using a satisfaction survey.;Results. The mean BMI (kg/m2) of the intervention group and control groups were 29.3 (± 2.69) and 27.7 (± 4.19) respectively. All intervention group subjects lost weight; a large effect size was observed for decreases in weight (F(1.036, 6) = 2.198, p = 0.233, &eegr;p2 = 0.423) and BMI (F(1.420, 6) = 3.233, p = 0.142, &eegr;p2 = 0.519). No significant between group differences were observed for changes in weight or BMI. Moderate to large effect sizes were observed for improvements in eating behavior measures.;Conclusions. This study provides preliminary evidence that a mindful-eating intervention delivered using health coaching techniques can result in positive changes in weight and eating behaviors in overweight and obese adults. |
