Reading as Therapy for Kids

This report on a study presented at the Obesity Society’s annual scientific meeting in Phoenix states that reading a novel that includes strong role models and messages about healthy living boosted weight loss in a group of adolescent girls.

These girls were already in a weight management program at Duke University. One of the interventions was looking at the effect of this type of influence — of positive role models!!

In the study, researchers divided 64 obese 9- to 13-year-old girls, who were already taking part in a comprehensive weight loss program, into three groups: one group read no books, one read a “control” book, and one read the “intervention” book called Lake Rescue (Beacon Street Press).

“This book is not just a story about a girl who loses weight. It’s about a heroine who comes to understand her battle with weight in a very real and tangible way that preteens can connect with,” Armstrong noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health.

After 6 months, the researchers found that the girls who read Lake Rescue had a significant 0.71 percent drop in their body mass index, the ratio between height and weight. The group that read the control book had a drop of 0.33 percent in their BMI, while the non-readers increased their BMI scores by 0.05 percent.

“The strength of the study is not in the magnitude of the result, but in the simplicity of the intervention,” Armstrong said. “It is very rare to find an intervention, especially in this preteen age group, who are too young to qualify for medication or surgery to help them lose weight, which is positive in its message and has a beneficial effect on body mass,” she added.