(P23-030-23) Development and Feasibility of a Remotely Delivered Healthy Lifestyle Intervention for Older Adults

Objectives: To develop and pilot online intervention materials for weight loss in older adults.

Methods: We developed a modified Group Lifestyle Balance (GLB) program for a 12-month randomized clinical trial (Brain-Body Health, BB-Health). This was tailored to older adults and to support engagement in an entirely online classroom. The modifications include support for a range of dietary patterns, leveraging social reinforcement, and evocation of personal values and goals through theory-informed weekly conversations, didactic polling, and discussion prompts (Motivational Interviewing, Social Identity Theory, and Stages of Change). Interventionist prompts and participant self-monitoring were facilitated by a remotely monitored dashboard, wrist activity monitor, and Wi-Fi enabled scale. Weight, attendance, participation, and adherence to self-monitoring assignments were measured.

Results: Data for 6 participants completing 4 months are presented. Participants were aged 60-80 years with BMIs from 27-39.9 kg/m². Average weight loss from baseline was 3.7% ±­ 2.1% (SD) at 1 month, 6.4% ± 3.7% at 2 months, 7.1% ± 3.9% at 3 months, and 7.5% ± 4.3% at 4 months. Daily step count varied after first week observed, increasing 5.7% ± 18% at 1 month, on average (median: 4.9%), and 3.6% ± 21% at 4 months (median: -8.6%). Meeting attendance was 100% over four months (14 sessions). All participants discussed utilizing new behavioral skills and progress challenges in meetings and responded verbally to all discussion prompts, in each session. Food logging, self-weighing, and activity tracking >5 days/week was satisfied >90% of the period for all participants. No participant withdrew from the trial.

Conclusions: Participants enrolled in the BB-Health modified GLB had high meeting attendance, engagement, adherence, and substantial weight loss despite heterogeneous activity levels during the first 4 months of intervention. Our preliminary results suggest that online delivery of eHealth interventions is feasible in older adults and may present a scalable approach for prevention and treatment of obesity in this demographic.

Funding Sources: NIH R-56 (#R56AG065236). USDA-NIFA National Needs Fellowship (#2020-38420-30724). USDA Agricultural Research Service Cooperative Agreement (#58-1950-7-707). Tufts Institute for Global Obesity Research (TIGOR).