title: Motivational Interviewing in Childhood Obesity Treatment.
abstract: Obesity is one of today's most diffused and severe public health problems worldwide. It affects both adults and children with critical physical, social, and psychological consequences. The aim of this review is to appraise the studies that investigated the effects of motivational interviewing techniques in treating overweight and obese children. The electronic databases PubMed and PsychINFO were searched for articles meeting inclusion criteria. The review included studies based on the application of motivational interviewing (MI) components and having the objective of changing body mass index (BMI) in overweight or obese children from age 2 to age 11. Six articles have been selected and included in this review. Three studies reported that MI had a statistically significant positive effect on BMI and on secondary obesity-related behavior outcomes. MI can be applicable in the treatment of overweight and obese children, but its efficacy cannot be proved given the lack of studies carried out on this specific sample.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bergamo Bergamo, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borrello
authors.affiliation: Psychology Research Laboratory, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Ospedale San Giuseppe Piancavallo, Italy ; Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Giada
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pietrabissa
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bergamo Bergamo, Italy ; Psychology Research Laboratory, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Ospedale San Giuseppe Piancavallo, Italy.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ceccarini
authors.affiliation: Psychology Research Laboratory, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Ospedale San Giuseppe Piancavallo, Italy ; Faculty of Psychology, eCampus University Novedrate, Italy.
authors.forename: Gian M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Manzoni
authors.affiliation: Psychology Research Laboratory, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Ospedale San Giuseppe Piancavallo, Italy ; Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Castelnuovo
keywords: childhood; children; motivational interviewing; obesity; overweight; pediatric obesity; review