Biography
Biography: Mark Lemstra
Abstract
The Healthy Kids Initiative occurs in three cities in Saskatchewan, Canada for overweight or obese youth. The program includes 60 supervised exercise therapy sessions, 12 dietary sessions, 12 cognitive behaviour therapy sessions and significant social support (community, clinicians, family and friends) over a 12- week period. Support includes attending with a “buddy” and three signed social support contracts. Numerous objective and valid outcomes are measured at 12 weeks, 24 weeks and 52 weeks including body mass index, body fat percentage, waist and hip circumference, blood pressure, blood glucose, blood cholesterol, aerobic fitness, aerobic activity, physical activity, dietary consumption, self report health, health care utilization, smoking status, depressed mood and health related quality of life.
To date, 1,465 youth (91.6% completion rate) have completed the program.
At 12 weeks, modest weight losses are observed but significant health outcomes are attained. For example, the prevalence of depressed mood (measured by Beck Depression Inventory-2) is reduced from 59.4% to 24.0% (p = 0.000).