Pilot Study of Appetite Monitoring at a Family-Based Camp for Obese Youth

Self-monitoring of food intake is a core strategy in cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT) for weight management, but some concerns have been raised about the use of food monitoring (FM), particularly with youth. Appetite monitoring (AM), a form of self-monitoring in which participants track their appetite cues, has shown promise as a potentially acceptable and equally useful alternative. This pilot study implemented AM at a residential camp for overweight and obese youth (ages 9–14) that promotes family based healthy lifestyle habits. Campers and their families were taught to rate their appetite (using a form called the “Hunger Scale”) at family weekends in the spring, and were encouraged to use the scale at home. During the children’s 5-day summertime overnight camp, they were prompted to attend to their appetite cues before all meals. At the end of the camp week, counselor and camper ratings indicated that the AM intervention was feasible, acceptable, helpful, and utilized. At the fall reunion weekends, campers and parents reported remembering the Hunger Scale and continued to rate the intervention positively. On average, campers reported improved awareness of their appetite cues at the end of camper week, which was maintained at the fall reunion weekend. The most improvement was reported by campers identified by parents at baseline as having objective overeating episodes (i.e., eating clearly large amounts). These results are preliminary and warrant further investigation, but suggest that AM could be a promising alternative or additional self-monitoring strategy within camps and other interventions for overweight and obese youth.