Evaluation of an outpatient rehabilitation programme for children and adolescents with obesity (EvambAdi)

Since the Flexirentengesetz ("Act to make the transition from working life to retirement more flexible and to strengthen prevention and rehabilitation in working life") came into force in 2016, there is now, among other innovations, the possibility for children and adolescents to take advantage of an outpatient rehabilitation measure. 

The aim of this research project is to evaluate an outpatient rehabilitation programme for children with overweight and obesity, which includes an effectiveness test and process evaluation. The evaluation of the outpatient rehabilitation programme will be conducted with a mixed methods approach using qualitative and quantitative methods over a period of 36 months. The effectiveness evaluation will examine differences between the intervention group and the control group with regard to the BMI-SDS ("Standard Deviation Score" of the Body Mass Index), specific laboratory parameters, quality of life and the health/activity behaviour of the children and their parents. In addition to the children and their parents, the staff of the three cooperating outpatient rehabilitation centres are also included in the process evaluation. The satisfaction, the involvement of the parents, the integration of the outpatient rehabilitation programme into everyday life as well as challenges and suggestions for improvement for the implementation of the programme will be explored. 

In the long term, the results of the evaluation can contribute to a further development and increased awareness of the rehabilitation programme as well as to the integration of (outpatient) child and adolescent rehabilitation into the overall care concept for chronically ill children and adolescents.