Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVE:The SELF Trial examined the effect of adding individual self-efficacy (SE) enhancement sessions to standard behavioral weight loss treatment (SBT). METHODS:Participants were randomly assigned to SBT or SBT plus SE sessions (SBT+SE). Outcome measures were weight loss maintenance, quality of life, intervention adherence, and self-efficacy at 12 and 18 months. RESULTS:The sample (N = 130) was female (83.08%) with a mean (SD) body mass index of 33.15 (4.11) kg m(2) . There was a significant time effect for percent weight change (P = 0.002) yet no significant group or group-by-time effects. The weight loss for the SBT+SE group was 8.38% (7.48) at 12 months and 8.00% (7.87) at 18 months, with no significant difference between the two time points (P = 0.06). However, weight loss for the SBT group was 6.95% (6.67) at 12 months and 5.96% (7.35) at 18 months, which was significantly different between the two time points (P = 0.005), indicating that the SBT group had significant weight regain. CONCLUSIONS:Both groups achieved clinically significant weight loss. The group receiving an intervention targeting enhanced self-efficacy had greater weight loss maintenance whereas the SBT group demonstrated significant weight regain possibly related to the greater attention provided to the SBT+SE group.

Effective conceptualizations of research burden should address indirect burdens related to research duration, intensity, and invasiveness. Introducing the concept of perceived research burden, we developed, tested, and validated a new instrument, the Perceived Research Burden Assessment (PeRBA). Initial psychometric evaluation of PeRBA reveals good internal consistency, evidence of face validity, and acceptable convergent and discriminant validity.