title: [Gain for pain: a model of a healthy lifestyle intervention in a population of mentally disabled adults].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mental retardation is an intellectual disability affecting adaptable, conceptual, social and practical skills, with onset prior to 18 years of age. Prevalence of obesity among women with mental retardation is 18-30% greater than that among women without mental retardation. In the Nachman Village, a governmental institution for adults with mental retardation, the main nutritional difficulties result from residents eating snacks in addition to their balanced meals. Psychological complexity and the ambivalent attitude of families, caregivers and residents prevented the achievement of balanced diets and healthy body weights. The women's house mother took upon herself to detect residents with nutritional problems and started an intervention program aiming at promoting a healthy lifestyle and maintenance of normal body weight.
  
  
  METHODS
  The program 'House Queen' was Launched on a voluntary basis. The staff encouraged the residents to engage in physical activity, restrict snack consumption and amounts of food at meals, eat vegetables and not waste pocket money on non-nutritional foods. Each month one or two residents who lost weight while maintaining a healthy lifestyle received a prize and the title "House Queen". The statistical analysis included 22 residents and was conducted retrospectively from data coLlected during a routine medical follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 59.1% of the residents were morbidly obese and 27.3% were obese at the beginning of the program. Seventeen months later, they weighed an average of 8 kg Less, and only 36.4% and 18.2% of them were morbidly obese and obese, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest a correlation between the 'House Queen' program and Lowering body weight, which encourage the authors to broaden the program to other residents in the Village and combine supportive and restrictive attitudes towards a healthy lifestyle for mentally disabled people.
authors.affiliation: Nachman Village Infirmary.
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bardugo
authors.forename: Lilach
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moses
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shemmer
authors.forename: Innesa
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dubman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000150:complications*; D008019:Life Style; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D012112:Residential Facilities; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012201:Reward