Poor adherence to lifestyle intervention remains a key factor hindering treatment effectiveness and health outcomes for adults with obesity. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to determine if behavioural treatment strategies (e.g. goal setting, motivational interviewing, relapse prevention, cognitive restructuring etc.) improve adherence to lifestyle intervention programmes in adults with obesity. Randomized controlled trials that investigated the use of behavioural treatment strategies in obesity management were identified by systematically reviewing the literature within Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus and Web of Science from their inception to August 2016. This meta-analysis shows that behavioural treatment interventions have a significant positive effect on session attendance (percentage) and physical activity (total min/week) in adults with obesity (M = 17.63 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 10.77, 24.50), z =5.0337, P < 0.0001 and M = 105.98 (95% CI = 58.64, 153.32), z =4.3878, P < 0.0001, respectively). This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials provides evidence that behavioural treatment strategies improve adherence to lifestyle intervention programmes in adults with obesity. These strategies should be routinely incorporated into lifestyle intervention, obesity management and weight loss programmes with the aim of improving engagement and adherence. If adherence were improved, treatment effectiveness, health outcomes and the ultimate burden of chronic disease could also be improved.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 123. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 27 November 2025.
All research outputs
#426,928
of 34,307,719 outputs
Outputs from Clinical Obesity
#12
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Outputs of similar age
#7,792
of 497,136 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Clinical Obesity
#2
of 18 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,307,719 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 565 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.8. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 18 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its contemporaries.
