When the wearable insulin pump was invented, that advance signified a dramatically improved existence for at least some diabetics. (The devices are expensive.) But when something works, it tends to become more affordable over time.
Likewise, the prospects for helping addicted people change their lives via technology-assisted therapy are promising. As Dr. Glasner-Edwards notes in her richly detailed video presentation, technology-based treatments have proven their worth vis-à-vis not only smoking cessation; but also mood, anxiety, and thought disorders; hypertension; HIV; alcohol and drug addiction; and obesity.
There is a wonderful paradox in all this. Technology, which is often perceived as impersonal and impervious, can also be a startlingly versatile tool. Former generations of medics would never have dared to dream of devices that can support such nuanced and individualized treatment modalities. (See illustration on this page, titled “Mediamatic hybrid wearables.”)
The trial’s kickoff
On August 3, 2018, at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, Dr. Pretlow delivered the kickoff speech for the multi-center clinical trial with the W8Loss2Go app. Currently in progress is the three-months Test Study that precedes the main launch, scheduled for January of 2019. The randomized controlled trial will continue for three years, which is quite a respectable length of time for a study, with a nice number of subjects, too — 180 overweight adolescents participating through four or possibly five institutions.
The team
Childhood Obesity News has published the following individual pages on the various team members:
- “Outstanding in Their Field: Alaina Vidmar, M.D.”
- “Outstanding in Their Field: Sarah-Jeanne Salvy, Ph.D.”
- “Outstanding in Their Field: Claudia Borzutzky, M.D.”
- “Outstanding in Their Field: Suzette Glasner-Edwards, Ph.D.”
Forging a deep connection
The nonprofit organization OAC (Obesity Action Coalition, with more than 60,000 members) wants people to connect. To that end, it created Weight of the World, a place for personal stories meant to educate, advocate, and support. The mission is to give individuals a voice, and also to raise awareness, and the method is to link people through a user-friendly web platform. It doesn’t cost anything, but interested people need to join, for accountability.
The Weight of the World website contains an easy-to-navigate video library featuring these personal stories, that is accessible by log-in on a secure site, which allows everyone who shares their story to feel comfortable, know each story is authentic and feel safe sharing their own. Their stories give a face, a voice, and a name to a disease that is often expressed in statistics and surrounded by stigma. The OAC’s page tells visitors that its work is financially supported by the international corporation Novo Nordisk, whose products mainly treat diabetes.
There’s still time to prep for Halloween
Are you a parent who berates yourself for not having done the Halloween shopping yet? Never fear, there is not only time to do it, but time to prepare by glancing at some useful, entertaining, and eye-opening posts about redesigning Halloween to be less obesity-friendly.
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Source: “The Use of Technology in Addiction Treatment, Suzette Glasner-Edwards, PhD,” Vimeo.com
Source: “Showcasing the Power of the Personal Story, Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) Launches Weight of the World,” WeightOfTheWorld.com
Source: “Our Community,” ObesityAction.org
Photo credit: jeanbaptisteparis on Visualhunt/CC BY-SA
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