title: Effectiveness of an Internet Community for Severely Obese Women.
abstract: While Internet communities have become thriving sources of support, little is yet known about their effectiveness. We retrospectively sampled morbidly obese (Body Mass Index, BMI &gt; 40) women who were active for at least a year in an Internet community. We compared self-reported weight changes between women who had high online participation levels (n = 71) versus those with low participation levels as control (n = 69). Women who actively participated online lost on average 7.52%, while those who were passive lost 5.39% of their original body weight. For active women, there was positive, albeit weak, correlation (r = 0.22, p &lt; 0.05) between online participation levels and weight loss, while no significant correlation was noted for the control. Current results indicate modest evidence supporting active participation in Internet groups as an effective weight loss strategy for the target group.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Taridzo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chomutare
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Eirik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Årsand
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hartvigsen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D061108:Social Media / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012944:Social Support; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss; D016387:Women's Health