BMI Study for Children Ages 6-9 Years and Parents
BMI Study for Children Ages 6-9 Years and Parents
The purpose of this study is to test the Fitwits office tool and games with 6-9 year old children and their parents to: 1) assist parent-child dyad with correct BMI status identification and understanding; 2) address nutrition, portion size, and activity cues; and, 3) track BMI trajectory over 12-month period.
The investigators will study parents' perceptions of their child's BMI before and after the Fitwits intervention with a primary goal of improving parents' ability to identify their child's actual BMI status (underweight, healthy weight, overweight, or obese). Secondary goals are to measure changes in behaviors and BMI trajectories with repetitive use of the Fitwits office tool.
The study design is a longitudinal non-randomized intervention study with four time points (baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months). The investigators will recruit family medicine residents, fellows, and faculty at the investigators' three family health centers and enroll 150 parent/guardians and children aged 6-9 years at well child visits, regardless of initial BMI.
The investigators will use electronic health record-generated BMI percentages, the physician-led Fitwits Office Tool as the intervention, and self-reported surveys for the parent-child dyad. Surveys will record the BMI understanding -pre- and post-Fitwits intervention at each visit.
The investigators will compare the intervention to a control group residency-based family health center with usual care for child/parent dyads presenting at well child care and 12 months later. At this site the investigators will survey for correct parent identification of the child's BMI category.
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria: