Healthy Mom Zone (HMZ): A Gestational Weight Gain Management Intervention 

Project Goals:

To establish feasibility and acceptability of delivering a behavioral intervention to manage gestational weight gain that is tailored to the unique needs and challenges of pregnant people with overweight and obesity.

Project Findings and Resources:

Symons Downs D, Savage JS, Rivera DE, Smyth JM, Rolls BJ, Hohman EE, McNitt KM, Kunselman AR, Stetter C, Pauley AM, Leonard KS, Guo P. Individually Tailored, Adaptive Intervention to Manage Gestational Weight Gain: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial in Women With Overweight and Obesity. JMIR Res Protoc. 2018 Jun 8;7(6):e150. doi: 10.2196/resprot.9220.

Guo P, Rivera DE, Pauley AM, Leonard KS, Savage JS, Downs DS. A "Model-on-Demand" Methodology For Energy Intake Estimation to Improve Gestational Weight Control Interventions. IFAC Pap OnLine. 2018;51(15):144-149. doi: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2018.09.105. Epub 2018 Oct 8.

Rauff EL, Downs DS. A Prospective Examination of Physical Activity Predictors in Pregnant Women with Normal Weight and Overweight/Obesity. Womens Health Issues. 2018 Nov-Dec;28(6):502-508. doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2018.09.003. Epub 2018 Oct 15.

Rauff EL, Downs DS. Mobile Health Technology in Prenatal Care: Understanding OBGYN Providers' Beliefs about Using Technology to Manage Gestational Weight Gain. J Technol Behav Sci. 2019 Mar;4(1):17-24. doi: 10.1007/s41347-018-0068-0. Epub 2018 Aug 15.

Pauley AM, Hohman E, Savage JS, Rivera DE, Guo P, Leonard KS, Symons Downs D. Gestational Weight Gain Intervention Impacts Determinants of Healthy Eating and Exercise in Overweight/Obese Pregnant Women. J Obes. 2018 Oct 1;2018:6469170. doi: 10.1155/2018/6469170. eCollection 2018.

Guo P, Rivera DE, Savage JS, Hohman EE, Pauley AM, Leonard KS, Downs DS. System Identification Approaches For Energy Intake Estimation: Enhancing Interventions For Managing Gestational Weight Gain. IEEE Trans Control Syst Technol. 2020 Jan;28(1):63-78. doi: 10.1109/TCST.2018.2871871. Epub 2018 Oct 12.

Freigoun MT, Rivera DE, Guo P, Hohman EE, Gernand AD, Downs DS, Savage JS. A Dynamical Systems Model of Intrauterine Fetal Growth. Math Comput Model Dyn Syst. 2018;24(6):661-687. doi: 10.1080/13873954.2018.1524387. Epub 2018 Oct 7.

Guo P, Rivera DE, Savage JS, Downs DS. State Estimation Under Correlated Partial Measurement Losses: Implications for Weight Control Interventions. IFAC Pap OnLine. 2017 Jul;50(1):13532-13537. doi: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2017.08.2347. Epub 2017 Oct 18.

Downs DS. Obesity in Special Populations: Pregnancy. Prim Care. 2016 Mar;43(1):109-20, ix. doi: 10.1016/j.pop.2015.09.003. Epub 2016 Jan 12.

Devlin CA, Huberty J, Downs DS. Influences of prior miscarriage and weight status on perinatal psychological well-being, exercise motivation and behavior. Midwifery. 2016 Dec;43:29-36. doi: 10.1016/j.midw.2016.10.010. Epub 2016 Oct 29.

Guo P, Rivera DE, Downs DS, Savage JS. Semi-physical Identification and State Estimation of Energy Intake for Interventions to Manage Gestational Weight Gain. Proc Am Control Conf. 2016 Jul;2016:1271-1276. doi: 10.1109/ACC.2016.7525092. Epub 2016 Aug 1.

Downs DS, Devlin CA, Rhodes RE. The Power of Believing: Salient Belief Predictors of Exercise Behavior in Normal Weight, Overweight, and Obese Pregnant Women. J Phys Act Health. 2015 Aug;12(8):1168-76. doi: 10.1123/jpah.2014-0262. Epub 2014 Nov 19.

Savage JS, Downs DS, Dong Y, Rivera DE. Control systems engineering for optimizing a prenatal weight gain intervention to regulate infant birth weight. Am J Public Health. 2014 Jul;104(7):1247-54. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.301959. Epub 2014 May 15.

Dong Y, Deshpande S, Rivera DE, Downs DS, Savage JS. Hybrid Model Predictive Control for Sequential Decision Policies in Adaptive Behavioral Interventions. Proc Am Control Conf. 2014 Jun;2014:4198-4203. doi: 10.1109/ACC.2014.6859462.

Downs DS, Savage JS, Rauff EL. Falling Short of Guidelines? Nutrition and Weight Gain Knowledge in Pregnancy. J Womens Health Care. 2014;3:1000184. doi: 10.4172/2167-0420.1000184.

Dong Y, Rivera DE, Downs DS, Savage JS, Thomas DM, Collins LM. Hybrid Model Predictive Control for Optimizing Gestational Weight Gain Behavioral Interventions. Proc Am Control Conf. 2013:1970-1975. doi: 10.1109/acc.2013.6580124.

Dong Y, Rivera DE, Thomas DM, Navarro-Barrientos JE, Downs DS, Savage JS, Collins LM. A Dynamical Systems Model for Improving Gestational Weight Gain Behavioral Interventions. Proc Am Control Conf. 2012:4059-4064. doi: 10.1109/acc.2012.6315424.

McNitt KM, Hohman EE, Rivera DE, Guo P, Pauley AM, Gernand AD, Symons Downs D, Savage JS. Underreporting of Energy Intake Increases over Pregnancy: An Intensive Longitudinal Study of Women with Overweight and Obesity. Nutrients. 2022 Jun 1;14(11):2326. doi: 10.3390/nu14112326.

Rosinger AY, Bethancourt HJ, Pauley AM, Latona C, John J, Kelyman A, Leonard KS, Hohman EE, McNitt K, Gernand AD, Downs DS, Savage JS. Variation in urine osmolality throughout pregnancy: a longitudinal, randomized-control trial among women with overweight and obesity. Eur J Nutr. 2022 Feb;61(1):127-140. doi: 10.1007/s00394-021-02616-x. Epub 2021 Jul 3.

Guo P, Rivera DE, Dong Y, Deshpande S, Savage JS, Hohman EE, Pauley AM, Leonard KS, Downs DS. Optimizing Behavioral Interventions to Regulate Gestational Weight Gain With Sequential Decision Policies Using Hybrid Model Predictive Control. Comput Chem Eng. 2022 Apr;160:107721. doi: 10.1016/j.compchemeng.2022.107721. Epub 2022 Feb 8.

Leonard KS, Pauley AM, Hohman EE, Guo P, Rivera DE, Savage JS, Buman MP, Symons Downs D. Identifying ActiGraph non-wear time in pregnant women with overweight or obesity. J Sci Med Sport. 2020 Dec;23(12):1197-1201. doi: 10.1016/j.jsams.2020.08.003. Epub 2020 Aug 11.

Ranghetti L, Rivera DE, Guo P, Visioli A, Savage JS, Symons Downs D. A control-based observer approach for estimating energy intake during pregnancy. Int J Robust Nonlinear Control. 2023 Jun;33(9):5105-5127. doi: 10.1002/rnc.6019. Epub 2022 Jan 30.

Project Contacts

Jennifer Savage Williams

• Professor
• Director, Center for Childhood Obesity Research

jfs195@psu.edu

814-865-0514

Danielle Downs

• Professor of Kinesiology and Obstetrics & Gynecology, Penn State College of Health and Human Development