Obesity Intervention for Low-Income African American Preschoolers

Parent Focused Obesity Intervention for Low-Income African American Preschoolers

The purpose of this study is to preliminarily validate a parent-focused obesity intervention program for parents of low-income, African American preschoolers who are currently overweight (> 85th BMI %tile). Half of the participants will receive an intervention that is eight sessions in length and carried out in the participant's home. The sessions will target the nutrition and physical activity knowledge of parents and their motivation for changing parenting related to family eating habits and activity level. The remaining participants will receive an attention comparison control condition (ACCC), which includes one home visit, 7 newsletters and 4 monthly support phone calls. It is hypothesized that children of parents receiving the intervention will have decreases in BMI %tile, consume more fruits/vegetables and fewer sugary beverages, and engage in more activity as compared to ACCC.

This study will do a preliminarily validation of a parent-focused obesity intervention program for parents of low-income, African American preschoolers who are currently overweight (> 85th BMI %tile). Participants will be randomly assigned to an intervention or attention control condition. Those in the intervention will receive an intervention that is eight sessions in length and carried out in the participant's home. The sessions will target the nutrition and physical activity knowledge of parents and their motivation for changing parenting related to family eating habits and activity level. Sessions include psycho-education and skills building exercises. The attention comparison control condition (ACCC) participants will receive one home visit, 7 newsletters and 4 monthly support phone calls. The content of this condition also focuses on nutrition and activity knowledge, motivation and parenting. Outcomes for the intervention and ACC conditions will be assessed at baseline, post-intervention and at a 6-month and 1-year followed up. Child BMI %tile, consumption of fruits/vegetables and sugary beverages, and activity level will be analyzed to examine intervention effectiveness across time.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parents of children enrolled in Head Start preschool in Detroit, MI will be included. Parents must be 18 years of age or older and their child must be of preschool age, between 3 and 5 years of age. Based on recruitment from Detroit Head Start, families will be low-income and of African American descent. Children will have a current body mass index percentile at or above the 85th percentile.

Exclusion Criteria: Child BMI percentile below the 85th percentile.

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