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 to 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).