Trial reportHealth psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association2020
Patient-provided e-support in reduced intensity obesity treatment: The INSPIRE randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Digital Mental Health Interventions in Obesity Management: A Systematic Review and Evidence-Based Recommendations.Current obesity reports · 2026Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials examining social comparison as a behaviour change technique across the behavioural sciences.Nature human behaviour · 2025Pooled it
- Health-promotion interventions targeting multiple behaviors: A meta-analytic review of general and behavior-specific processes of change.Psychological bulletin · 2024Pooled it
- The effectiveness of social-support-based weight-loss interventions-a systematic review and meta-analysis.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2024Pooled it
- Outcomes from Partner2Lose: a randomized controlled trial to evaluate 24-month weight loss in a partner-assisted intervention.BMC public health · 2024Trial
- Effectiveness of "run-ins" at predicting adherence in a behavioral weight loss efficacy trial.Contemporary clinical trials · 2022Trial
- Comparative effects of exercise modalities on ectopic fat reduction in overweight and obese children and adolescents: a narrative review.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Review
- Understanding the selection of support partners in a behavioral weight loss program.Psychology & health · 2025Article
- Acceptability of a Self-Guided Lifestyle Intervention Among Young Men: Mixed Methods Analysis of Pilot Findings.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- The Assessment of Supportive Accountability in Adults Seeking Obesity Treatment: Psychometric Validation Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThere are two types of patient supporters, peers (two individuals initiating health behavior change who support one another) and mentors (a previously successful patient who supports incoming patients). Social comparison theory suggests that peers and mentors may elicit social comparison processes (patients may compare their progress to that of their peer/mentor), and these social comparisons could impact treatment outcomes. This randomized controlled trial is the first to examine the differential impact of peers and mentors on obesity treatment outcomes and social comparison processes when added to reduced intensity treatment.
methodParticipants (N = 278) were randomly assigned to reduced intensity behavioral weight loss treatment alone (rBWL), rBWL plus peer e-support (rBWL + Peer), or rBWL plus mentor e-support (rBWL + Mentor). rBWL involved periodic group sessions that decreased over time; when group sessions decreased, intensity of peer/mentor e-support increased. Weight and social comparison processes were assessed throughout the 12-month intervention.
resultsThere was a significant treatment effect; when group sessions became less frequent and peer/mentor e-support became more frequent, rBWL + Peer had significantly greater weight loss than rBWL alone, and rBWL + Mentor was not significantly different from the other two. Social comparison processes differed by treatment arm; rBWL + Peer participants tended to report more lateral social comparisons ("my weight loss progress is 'similar' to my peer's"), whereas rBWL + Mentor participants reported more upward comparisons ("my weight loss progress is 'worse than' my mentor's"). Upward comparisons were associated with poorer weight loss outcomes.
conclusionsPeer e-support may be an effective, low-cost, sustainable method for improving longer-term weight loss outcomes in reduced intensity obesity treatment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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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.