One lovely afternoon, I was scrolling through facebook and came across a post in a JHSPH student group looking for individuals to participate in a weight-loss study. I fit the study criteria and found the person’s face in the profile picture to be quite symmetrical, so I contacted her and did a phone screen. Coincidentally, we met in the building I was conducting a research study in at the time, the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. 

After I signed the consent form, the researcher took my height, weight, and waist measurements. I completed several questionnaires regarding exercise and nutrition, and later I was able to locate the published paper and identify the questionnaires. The Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire asked about my physical activity and the National Cancer Institute’s Automated Self-Administered 24 asked about my nutrition. Self-efficacy was evaluated via the Self-Efficacy for Healthy Eating Scale and the Self-Efficacy for Exercise Scale. The questionnaires generally asked about my eating habits and the extent of my physical activity per week. I was asked about everything I had eaten in the past 24 hours, my belief in making better food choices in various situations, and my belief in my ability to exercise in certain situations. 

We then discussed healthy eating, increasing physical activity, and limiting unhealthy behaviors. I love talking about personal development, especially health and wellness, so I very much enjoyed this part of the study. After the short consult, I was told my goal was to try to lose 1-2 pounds a week for the next 3 months.

Then the researcher consulted her computer and informed me that I was in the group not allowed to download any weight loss apps for 3 months, the control group. The intervention group was guided to download an app called Lose It! and received text messages from health coaches throughout the 3 months. Intervention group members were encouraged to log their food and exercise so their health coaches could personalize messages to them about their progress. 

I’m usually trying to lose a couple pounds, so I lived as I normally do and came back 3 months later. The researcher took my measurements again, and even though I was is the control group, I learned I had lost a couple pounds during the study. I received a $25 gift card for participating.  Studdy Buddy also found an individual for the researcher’s study, making this one of the first studies we helped with recruitment. 

The study investigated a behavioral intervention founded on self-efficacy theory, one of the components of social cognitive theory. In social cognitive theory, Albert Bandura posits that human behavior is explained by the continuous interaction of personal factors, environmental influences, and behavior and that learning is related to the observation of others during social interactions, experiences, and media influences.

The researchers built the 4 mechanisms of self-efficacy theory: mastery experience, social modeling, social support, and verbal persuasion, into the intervention group’s protocol.  In this trial, applying this theory to weight loss worked. On average during the 3-month period, the control group gained about ⅔ pound and the intervention group lost about 4 pounds. This difference was statistically significant, meaning these results were most likely not due to chance.

This was not the most exciting study for control group participants. Other studies I’ve participated in tended to have a more involved protocol for the control group, but the nature of the study did not allow for that. Still, the research world provided me a different treasure this time around as the researcher conducting the study and I became lifelong friends, and we still keep in touch!