Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2003 Jun;27(6):748-54.
doi: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0802290.

Children's weight-loss camps: psychological benefit or jeopardy?

L L M Walker  1 , P J Gately, B M Bewick, A J Hill
Affiliations

Children's weight-loss camps: psychological benefit or jeopardy?

L L M Walker et al. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2003 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the change in body image, self-esteem, and worries in obese adolescents attending a residential, weight-loss camp.

Design: A longitudinal intervention study, with a nonintervention comparison group of lean adolescents.

Participants: A total of 57 obese adolescents (age: 13,11; BMI: 32.6 kg/m(2)) and 38 normal weight comparison adolescents.

Measures: Self-esteem, salience of weight-related issues, body shape preference, weight and height at the start, and end of the weight-loss camp (mean stay: 4 weeks).

Results: The obese adolescents lost 5.6 kg, reduced their BMI by 2.1 kg/m(2), and BMI s.d. score by 0.28 while comparison children gained weight. Body shape dissatisfaction significantly decreased and self-esteem increased on measures of global self-worth, athletic competence, and physical appearance, in the camp attendees. This improvement took place without any exacerbation of existing worries about appearance or weight.

Conclusions: While obese adolescents had lower self-worth and greater body dissatisfaction relative to the comparison children at the start of the camp, the intervention improved their psychological state. Greater weight loss was associated with greater psychological improvement, indicating the value of the intervention and the relevance of psychological change in effective treatment.

PubMed Disclaimer