Impressive results for Tone’s MEND programme

Tone has recently received a personalised report on the MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do it) programme we’ve been running in Somerset for the past three years.

The family-focused treatment and prevention programme is for children aged between seven and 13 who are over a healthy weight and aims to educate and motivate the children and their families on issues such as exercise and nutrition to help tackle the growing problem of childhood obesity. Tone receives funding from The Big Lottery Fund to carry out this programme in Somerset and the results below demonstrate what a valuable scheme it is to local families.

The report included eight programmes over a period of 35 months. The total number of participants in these programmes was 45 (47 % boys) and the average age was 10.7 years.

- Average programme attendance was similar to the national average (74%) and dropout rate was lower than the national average (5%).
- Our MEND programme demonstrated significant clinical results with Body Mass Index (BMI) decreasing from 28.4 kg/m2 pre-MEND to 27.6 kg/m2 post- MEND, leading to a mean 0.8 BMI unit reduction.
- Waist circumference, an indicator of abdominal fat, was decreased by 1.9 cm post-programme.
- Post-programme levels of physical activity rose and children were doing moderate to vigorous activity for 1.7 additional days per week,
- A 6.0-hour decrease in sedentary activities per week was also observed post-MEND, as television viewing and computer usage were reduced from 20.3 to 14.3 hours per week.
- Participants were "fitter" by the end of the programme, as indicated by the 11.6 beats per minute decrease in recovery heart rate following the 3-minute step test.
- The programme also had a positive impact on the mental wellbeing of the participants. The SDQ is a parent-rated measure of common psychological symptoms in childhood. The mean score on the SDQ was within the borderline high/low needs range and it is encouraging to note that post- programme the average SDQ score was within the low needs range. This suggests that participating in the programme is associated with improved psychological functioning.

As a social enterprise, Tone is committed to helping all age groups within the community get active and feel better. Programmes like MEND are ideal for encouraging families to adopt healthy lifestyles and we’re delighted that the hard work of the participants and our staff has paid off with these published results. We will be working hard to secure funding to continue this scheme into 2011 and beyond.

Families interested in Tone’s next MEND programme can contact Melissa McCarthy, health development officer, on 01823 273084 or m.mccarthy@toneleisure.com