title: Response to commentary by Skinner et al. on Regression to the Mean (RTM) in Burke et al.
abstract: This letter is a response to commentary by Skinner et al. on an evaluation by Burke et al. of the HealthMPowers program, an elementary-school-based program developed to improve child health and wellness. In their commentary, Skinner et al. make the criticism that our results for changes in BMI-for-Age Z score were simply reflective of Regression to the Mean (RTM). In this response, we show that while some of our results are consistent with RTM, with adjustment we do still observe some small effects in BMI-for-Age Z score over the course of the school year. We conclude that while our evaluation was not definitive, we still believe that programs of similar design to HealthMPowers merit further rigorous study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. rmburke@emory.edu.
authors.forename: Rachel M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.affiliation: HealthMPowers, Atlanta, GA, USA. christi.kay@healthmpowers.org.
authors.forename: Christi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kay
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. jagazma@emory.edu.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gazmararian
mesh_terms: D001823:Body Composition; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D050177:Overweight / Q000517:prevention & control*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control*