Trial reportInternational journal of obesity (2005)2019
Functional imagery training versus motivational interviewing for weight loss: a randomised controlled trial of brief individual interventions for overweight and obesity.
Trial report in International journal of obesity (2005), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04953299 (Randomised Control Trial of Remote Access, Group-based Functional Imagery Training Versus NHS 12 Week Online Programme in the Community), which is not on this map. Cited by 16 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Randomised Control Trial of Remote Access, Group-based Functional Imagery Training Versus NHS 12 Week Online Programme in the Community
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- Early Evaluation of IMAGINATOR 2.0 Intervention Targeting Self-Harm in Young People: Single-Arm Feasibility Trial.JMIR formative research · 2026Trial
- Tell me all about it: Narrated memories are less emotional than imagined memories.Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006) · 2023Trial
- Brief Online Negative Affect Focused Functional Imagery Training Improves 2-Week Drinking Outcomes in Hazardous Student Drinkers: a Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2022Trial
- Imaginator: A Proof-of-Concept Feasibility Trial of a Brief Imagery-Based Psychological Intervention for Young People Who Self-Harm.Suicide & life-threatening behavior · 2020Trial
- Mental imagery as a "motivational amplifier" to promote activities.Behaviour research and therapy · 2019Trial
- A Work-Based, Fully Remote, and Peer-Supported Exercise Snack Behavior Change Intervention (MOV'D): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- User Experiences With Digital Future-Self Interventions in the Contexts of Smoking and Physical Inactivity: Mixed Methods Multistudy Exploration.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- The multicomponent model of working memory fifty years on.Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006) · 2025Article
- Brief online negative affect focused functional imagery training (FIT) improves four-week drinking outcomes in hazardous student drinkers: A pilot randomised controlled trial replication in South Africa.Addictive behaviors reports · 2024Article
- Why Should Diabetic Women Be Active?-The Role of Personality, Self-Esteem, Body-Esteem, and Imagery.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Systematic realist synthesis of health-related and lifestyle interventions designed to decrease overweight, obesity and unemployment in adults.BMC public health · 2022Review
- Personal motivation, self-regulation barriers and strategies for weight loss in people with overweight and obesity: a thematic framework analysis.Public health nutrition · 2022Article
- Effects of training podiatrists to use imagery-based motivational interviewing when treating people with diabetes-related foot disease: a mixed-methods pilot study.Journal of foot and ankle research · 2021Article
- Brief Negative Affect Focused Functional Imagery Training Abolishes Stress-Induced Alcohol Choice in Hazardous Student Drinkers.Journal of addiction · 2021Article
- Social robots as treatment agents: Pilot randomized controlled trial to deliver a behavior change intervention.Internet interventions · 2020Article
- Innovations in digital interventions for psychological trauma: harnessing advances in cognitive science.mHealth · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveFunctional Imagery Training (FIT) is a new brief motivational intervention based on the Elaborated Intrusion theory of desire. FIT trains the habitual use of personalised, affective, goal-directed mental imagery to plan behaviours, anticipate obstacles, and mentally try out solutions from previous successes. It is delivered in the client-centred style of Motivational Interviewing (MI). We tested the impact of FIT on weight loss, compared with time- and contact-matched MI.
designWe recruited 141 adults with BMI (kg/m²) ≥25, via a community newspaper, to a single-centre randomised controlled trial. Participants were allocated to one of two active interventions: FIT or MI. Primary data collection and analyses were conducted by researchers blind to interventions. All participants received two sessions of their allocated intervention; the first face-to-face (1 h), the second by phone (maximum 45 min). Booster calls of up to 15 min were provided every 2 weeks for 3 months, then once-monthly until 6 months. Maximum contact time was 4 h of individual consultation. Participants were assessed at Baseline, at the end of the intervention phase (6 months), and again 12 months post-baseline.
main outcome measuresWeight (kg) and waist circumference (WC, cm) reductions at 6 and 12 months.
resultsFIT participants (N = 59) lost 4.11 kg and 7.02 cm of WC, compared to .74 kg and 2.72 cm in the MI group (N = 55) at 6 months (weight mean difference (WMD) = 3.37 kg, p < .001, 95% CI [-5.2, -2.1], waist-circumference mean difference (WCMD) = 4.3 cm, p < .001, 95% CI [-6.3,-2.6]). Between-group differences were maintained and increased at month 12: FIT participants lost 6.44 kg (W) and 9.1 cm (WC) compared to the MI who lost .67 kg and 2.46 cm (WMD = 5.77 kg, p < .001, 95% CI [-7.5, -4.4], WCMD = 6.64 cm, p < .001, 95% CI [-7.5, -4.4]).
conclusionFIT is a theoretically informed motivational intervention which offers substantial benefits for weight loss and maintenance of weight reduction, compared with MI alone, despite including no lifestyle education or advice.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.