• Gina Evans-Hudnall, Mary O Odafe, Adrienne Johnson, Nicholas Armenti, Jennifer O'Neil, Evan Lawson, Lisa H Trahan, and Fenan S Rassu.
• Houston VA HSR&D Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, (MEDVAMC 152), 2002 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030.
• Mil Med. 2020 Sep 18; 185 (9-10): e1662-e1670.

IntroductionObesity is highly comorbid with psychological symptoms in veterans, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Obese veterans with comorbid psychological symptoms often display suboptimal weight loss and poor physical functioning when participating in weight management programs. The MOVE! program aims to increase healthy eating and physical activity to promote weight loss in obese veterans. Adequately addressing psychological barriers is necessary to maximize outcomes in MOVE! for veterans with PTSD, depression, and anxiety. We examined the preliminary outcomes of administering the Healthy Emotions and Improving Health BehavioR Outcomes (HERO) intervention. HERO is adjunctive cognitive-behavioral therapy to MOVE! that addresses PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptom barriers to engagement in physical activity.Materials And MethodsAll recruitment and study procedures were approved by the institutional review board and research and development committees of the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Participants gave written informed consent before enrollment. Thirty-four obese veterans with a diagnosis of PTSD, depression, and/or anxiety who were attending MOVE! were assigned to the 8-session HERO group or the usual care (UC) group. Veterans completed assessments of PTSD, depression and anxiety symptoms, physical activity, physical functioning, and weight at baseline, 8 and 16 weeks post treatment. Changes from baseline to 8- and 16-week follow-up on the self-report and clinician-rated measures were assessed, using independent samples t-tests and analyses of covariance.ResultsAt 8 weeks post treatment, participants in the HERO group had significantly higher step counts per day than participants in the UC group. Similarly, at 16 weeks post-treatment, participants in the HERO group continued to experience a significant increase in daily steps taken per day, as well as statistically and clinically significantly lower scores on the depression symptom and PTSD symptom severity. Participants in the HERO group also demonstrated significantly higher scores on the physical functioning inventory than participants in the UC group (44.1 ± 12.1 vs. 35.7 ± 10.7, P = 0.04) at 16 weeks post treatment.ConclusionsFindings of this small trial have important implications pending replication in a more rigorously designed large-scale study. Providing an adjunctive treatment to MOVE! that addresses psychological distress has potential benefits for psychological symptom reduction, engagement in healthy dietary habits, and greater physical activity for individuals who traditionally experience barriers to making positive weight management changes.Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2020. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the US.

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