When the going gets tough: Coping plans as a tool for maintaining loss of overweight

Research questions: 1) Examine the effectiveness of the intervention in terms
of adherence to healthy diet and weight loss (primary outcomes); 2) Examine the
effectiveness of the intervention in terms of coping plans, better coping
self-efficacy, and awareness of potential threats for maintaining healthy diet
(secondary outcomes); 3) Examine to what extent the effectiveness of the
intervention is moderated by variables relating to self-regulatory competence.
Intervention: A minimal intervention aimed at improving self-management of
health behavior that has proven effective in previous research will be tailored
to address the topic of maintaining attempts to reduce overweight. Power
analysis: With a power of .90 and alpha set at .05, a minimum of 90 patients
per condition allows for the detection of medium effects on the primary outcome
variable. Time schedule: Year 1: Development and pilot of intervention,
recruitment of patients; Year 2: Start of intervention, baseline
data-collection; Year 3: Continued intervention and follow-up data-collection;
Year 4: data-analyses, preparation of manuscripts.

Objective: Aim of the present study is to test the effectiveness of a
preventive intervention that helps to maintain healthy diet during difficult
situations by means of coping plans (plans how to deal with situations that
might threaten adherence to healthy diet) in overweight people who are at risk
for diabetes and motivated to reduce weight.

Study design: A prospective randomized controlled design with a 12-month
follow-up will be employed.

not applicable