Adapting an Evidence-Based Weight Loss Intervention and Testing Strategies to Increase Implementation in Community Mental Health Programs (ACHIEVE-D)

This ALACRITY Center core pilot study, funded through the National Institute of Mental Health Advanced Laboratories for Accelerating the Reach and Impact of Treatments for Youth and Adults with Mental Illness (ALACRITY) Research Centers (P50), will create and evaluate strategies to support wide-spread implementation of the evidence-based ACHIEVE behavioral weight loss intervention in community mental health programs.

This pilot study develops and tests implementation strategies to facilitate widespread adoption and implementation of the evidence-based ACHIEVE behavioral weight loss intervention in community mental health programs. The ACHIEVE intervention includes weight loss counseling and physical activity tailored to people with serious mental illness. This study adapts the ACHIEVE program and through a pilot randomized clinical trial tests an implementation intervention to support delivery of the program in community health settings including training staff, leadership engagement, and performance coaching.

Investigators 

• Kim Gudzune, MD, MPH, Co-Principal Investigator
• Gerald Jerome, PhD, Co-Principal Investigator
• Arlene Dalcin, RD, MS, Co-Investigator
• Gail Daumit, MD, MHS, Co-Investigator

Publications

• Implementing an evidence-based behavioral weight-loss program in community mental health centers: A randomized pilot study (Gudzune et al., Obes Sci Pract., 2024)
• Scaling a behavioral weight-loss intervention for individuals with serious mental illness using the enhanced replicating effective programs framework: A preconditions phase proof-of-concept study (Gudzune et al., Obes Sci Pract., 2023)
• Comparing implementation strategies for an evidence-based weight management program delivered in community mental health programs: Protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial (Jerome et al., JMIR Research Protocols, 2023)