Attention, Overweight Teens, Pre-Teens, and Young Adults:
Thirty (30) significantly overweight youth, age 10-21, in the Seattle area, are needed to participate in a study of a new smartphone app in a self-directed weight loss program. Participants must have a committed desire to lose weight. Participants will be lent an iPhone 4 for a four-months pilot study, to run early June through early October 2012.
Participants will be compensated $200 if all requirements are met. If interested, please see information and online application at https://www.patientecare.com/
The app, called W8Loss2Go, is a self-directed overweight intervention. Its aim is to help users identify behavior, social cues, and emotional states that lead to unhealthy food cravings and binging.
As we explained earlier on this site:
The ‘W8 Loss 2 Go’ iPhone app has two purposes. First, it’s an intervention that focuses on problem foods, to help overweight kids unhook and maintain a healthy weight without getting re-hooked. Second, it provides coping skills to deal with the basic reasons kids get hooked in the first place, showing other ways to handle negative emotions and neutralize cravings.
FAQs and Media Requests: 
3 Responses
Good morning Dr. Pretlow,
I am a Student in the Family Nurse Practitioner program at Drexel University. I have enjoyed what I have seen on your website and would love to have access to your new app.
I am exploring ways to speak with children about obesity, but would love to recommend a tool that they could utilize. This is a touchy subject in primary care and I want to offer resources to both the the parents and children!
Thank you,
Sincerely,
Marybeth Rizzo Moore, RN, BSN
Hi Ms. Moore,
Thank you for your interest in our app. We have just launched a 4-month pilot study with 37 obese youth in the Seattle area. Once the app is validated, we plan to make it available on the app store. In the meantime, if you are interested in trying it with your patients, we’d be delighted to facilitate that. They would need their own iPhones, as we have used all of ours in our pilot study. Alternatively, we can supply a limited number of iPod Touch devices. Our app runs fine on the iPod Touch, however, WiFi access is necessary.
Best – Robert Pretlow, MD
Thank you Dr. Pretlow,
I will contact you about any young patients that fit the criteria and have an iPhone/iPod touch devices. I will be in touch!!! Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Marybeth Rizzo Moore