Behavioral Telehealth Applications in the Treatment of Obese Soldiers: A Feasibility Project and a Report on Preliminary Findings

For several decades, obesity has been a major health concern within the general population of the United States as well as within the unique military population. Unlike the civilian sector, frequent military deployments and relocations prohibit military personnel from participating in long-term weight loss programs. This study provided obese (body mass index ≥ 27) service members a 3-week, day-treatment, cognitive–behavioral weight loss program coupled with 12 months of weekly follow-up aftercare. On completion of the day-treatment phase of the program, patients unable to participate in on-site weekly follow-up due to ship deployments (n = 14) were provided follow-up via interactive video and an interactive Web page. Participants assigned to nondeployable units (n = 34) attended weekly follow-up at the hospital. The results yielded significant weight loss for both groups. There were no significant differences in weight loss between patients who completed follow-up at the hospital and patients who participated in interactive video follow-up sessions.