Simmons Submits NIH R01 Application

Simmons Submits NIH R01 Application

Kudos to Leigh Ann Simmons and her entire team for the submission of their NIH R01 application entitled “Goals for Reaching Optimal Wellness: GROWell." This proposal requests funding for a five-year period with a start date of April 1, 2018.

Abstract: Excess gestational weight gain, defined as gaining more weight during pregnancy than Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines for prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), is a significant public health issue. Roughly 62% of overweight and 45% of obese women gain more weight than recommended, increasing risk for postpartum weight retention. Yet few interventions have successfully utilized mobile health (mHealth) tools to achieve appropriate gestational weight gain and prevent postpartum weight retention, which is a missed opportunity in this group of high-frequency technology users. To fill this gap, our long-term goal is to validate and disseminate into clinical practice an mHealth tool that is effective for overweight and obese pregnant women to achieve gestational weight gain within IOM recommendations and return to prepregnancy weight after childbirth. The goal of this application is to test GROWell: Goals for Reaching Optimal Wellness, an innovative mHealth tool based on Self-regulation Theory that we designed in pilot work to achieve appropriate gestational weight gain and safe postpartum weight loss. We propose a blinded randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test the efficacy of GROWell compared to an attention control also developed in our pilot. We will recruit 480 women ages 18-44 with prepregnancy BMI 25-25 lbs for overweight and >20 lbs for obese) controlling for demographics, parity, physical activity, diet quality, and clinical site; and (2) Compare the efficacy of GROWell to the attention control in reducing postpartum weight retention at 6 months postpartum as measured by the proportion of women who are within 5% of their prepregnancy weight, controlling for demographics, parity, physical activity, diet quality, breastfeeding, and clinical site. This research addresses PA 15-100 (Maternal Nutrition and Pre-pregnancy Obesity: Effects on Mothers, Infants & Children) and will provide an innovative, evidence-based mHealth tool to reduce excess gestational weight gain and postpartum weight retention among overweight and obese pregnant women, currently an unavailable resource.

Scroll back to top automatically