Currently submitted to: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Mar 18, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Mar 19, 2026 - May 6, 2026
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
NOTE: This is an unreviewed Preprint
Warning: This is a unreviewed preprint (What is a preprint?). Readers are warned that the document has not been peer-reviewed by expert/patient reviewers or an academic editor, may contain misleading claims, and is likely to undergo changes before final publication, if accepted, or may have been rejected/withdrawn (a note "no longer under consideration" will appear above).
Peer review me: Readers with interest and expertise are encouraged to sign up as peer-reviewer, if the paper is within an open peer-review period (in this case, a "Peer Review Me" button to sign up as reviewer is displayed above). All preprints currently open for review are listed here. Outside of the formal open peer-review period we encourage you to tweet about the preprint.
Citation: Please cite this preprint only for review purposes or for grant applications and CVs (if you are the author).
Final version: If our system detects a final peer-reviewed "version of record" (VoR) published in any journal, a link to that VoR will appear below. Readers are then encourage to cite the VoR instead of this preprint.
Settings: If you are the author, you can login and change the preprint display settings, but the preprint URL/DOI is supposed to be stable and citable, so it should not be removed once posted.
Submit: To post your own preprint, simply submit to any JMIR journal, and choose the appropriate settings to expose your submitted version as preprint.
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Support after Adolescent Behavioral Weight Loss Treatment: Navigating the Transition into Emerging Adulthood
ABSTRACT
Background:
Obesity is a chronic disease requiring long-term treatment, yet current treatment models do not align with the chronicity of obesity. Current guidelines provide limited direction regarding how to adapt treatment to support weight loss maintenance as adolescents transition into emerging adulthood.
Objective:
This qualitative study aims to 1) better understand adolescents’ and their parents’ experiences after behavioral weight loss treatment as they navigate late adolescence into emerging adulthood and 2) identify what weight management support is needed during this transition.
Methods:
Adolescents and parents (N=20 dyads; M adolescent age=16.5 yrs; SD=0.6) completed semi-structured interviews > 11 months after participation in a 4-month multicomponent behavioral weight loss treatment. Domains assessed included adolescent and parent perceptions of facilitators and barriers to weight management since program completion, and needs and preferences for continued support through the transition into emerging adulthood. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analyzed.
Results:
Adolescents and parents reported adolescents maintaining several weight management behaviors (e.g., regular exercise, self-weighing, improved diet quality), while identifying others as more difficult to sustain (e.g., monitoring food intake, meal planning). Reported facilitators included consistent routines and ample opportunities for physical activity, while barriers consisted of time constraints, competing priorities, and external influences (e.g., eating behaviors of other family members). Both adolescents and parents expressed a desire for continued support during the transition to emerging adulthood to sustain healthy behaviors and navigate changing roles. Most adolescents indicated an interest in participating in a booster program to support weight management during this period.
Conclusions:
Findings identify key weight management behaviors that families maintained after treatment, as well as areas that require ongoing support. Results underscore the need for continued support with weight management behaviors during the transition to emerging adulthood and offer guidance for program structure and content. Results will inform the development of a targeted behavioral weight management transition program for this population.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.