Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Enrolling by Invitation

NCT Number: NCT07406568

Pilot Trial of the Move Healthier Group

The researchers are developing a new exercise-focused group and are interested in studying whether this group helps people increase their exercise without increasing risk for disordered eating behaviors.

Enrolling by Invitation

Interested in participating?

Request Info

Key information

Conditions

Obesity Behavior Body Weight Feeding and Eating Disorders Mental Disorders Motor Activity Nutrition Disorders Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases Overnutrition Overweight Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Signs and Symptoms Signs and Symptoms, Digestive

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinics

Lebanon, New Hampshire, 03766, United States

About this study

Individuals seeking weight loss are often encouraged to increase their exercise engagement as a health-promoting behavior. However, exercise engagement is often connected directly to caloric intake within weight loss interventions, so it is likely that individuals seeking weight loss are engaging in some level of compensatory exercise even in the absence of other disordered eating symptoms. Compensatory exercise is defined as exercising to "offset" or "make up for" calories consumed with the intent of controlling one's body weight or shape. The researchers are developing a new group to promote healthy exercise and are interested in studying whether this group helps people increase their exercise without increasing risk for compensatory exercise or other disordered eating behaviors.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Seen for weight loss treatment at DHMC Weight Center within the past year
  • Speak, read, & write English fluently
  • Age 18 or older
  • Appropriate for group visits (as assessed by referring provider)

Exclusion criteria

  • Meets DSM-5 criteria for an eating disorder based on behavior frequencies reported on baseline EDE-Q
  • Report contraindications for unsupervised physical activity on the PAR-Q, or have not been medically cleared by an MD for participation.

Treatment and study plan

Move Healthier Intervention

Behavioral

The intervention aims to increase exercise using cognitive and behavioral skills integrated across several treatment manuals including the Physical Activity Cognitively Enhanced (PACE) intervention for healthy exercise promotion in eating disorders, acceptance-based and standard behavioral weight loss manuals, and affect-guided exercise prescriptions.

Primary outcomes

  1. Objective physical activity

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 12 weeks

    Objective physical activity will be measures as the total number of minutes per week of physical activity measured via Fitbit device worn during waking hours. The Fitbit data will yield a total count of the number of minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity for each week during the intervention period, with higher counts indicating greater levels of activity.

  2. Self-reported physical activity

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 12 weeks

    Participants will also complete self-report measures of physical activity, including the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and IPAQ-short form at group sessions and study assessments. The IPAQ asks patients to report on their total physical activity engagement over the past 7 days by light, moderate, and vigorous activity categories. The IPAQ yields a total count of the number of minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity over the past week, with higher minutes indicating more activity.

  3. Eating disorder symptoms

    Time frame: Baseline and post-intervention (week 12)

    ED symptoms will be assessed via the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q 6.0), which asks about ED symptoms over the past month (28 days). Compensatory exercise engagement will be assessed via an item asking, "Over the past 28 days, how many times have you exercised to "make up for" a binge-eating episode, and compulsive exercise will be assessed using the item "...how many times have you felt driven/compelled to exercise?" EDE-Q items are averages to calculate a total score ranging from 0-6, with higher scores indicating higher levels of eating pathology.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Weight bias internalization

    Time frame: baseline and post-intervention (week 12)

    Internalized weight stigma will be measured using the Weight Bias Internalization Scale (WBIS). The WBIS comprises 11 items measuring self-directed weight bias and has shown excellent convergent and divergent validity within the population of interest. The WBIS items are averaged to yield a total score ranging from 1-7, with higher scores reflecting higher internalized weight bias.

  2. intervention acceptability

    Time frame: post-intervention (week 12)

    Participants will complete qualitative interviews at post-treatment to provide feedback on group format, acceptability, utility, etc. Qualitative analysis of these interview transcripts will elucidate themes related to group acceptability.

  3. intervention feasibility

    Time frame: post-intervention (week 12)

    Feasibility will be measured via group attendance rates across the 12 sessions.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2026
First posted
Feb 12, 2026
Registry last updated
Jul 28, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.