Young children with overweight parents have 3 to 13 times the risks of developing adult obesity. The purpose of this study if to pilot test an intervention aimed at preventing obesity. In high-risk children-those with overweight parents. Forty-five Native American (Mohawk) parents will be randomly assigned to a Parenting Skills (control) condition or a Parenting Skills+Obesity Prevention condition. Parents must have a BMI over 25 and at least one child between the ages of 9 and 15 months to be eligible. The intervention will be conducted in the homes of participants by trained peer- educators indigenous to the community. Each parent will participate in the intervention for 12 to 16 weeks. The interventions will only differ in the content of the Obesity Prevention component which is designed to encourage appropriate lifestyle behaviors in the parents and improved attitudes and beliefs regarding the approach to feeding young children and encouraging exercise. For the purposes of the pilot project assessments will be completed only on the parents. Measures will be completed at baseline and the conclusion of the intervention and include BMI, diet, exercise, sedentary behavior and attitudes and beliefs regarding obesity, child feeding practices and activity. Additionally the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention will be assessed. The results of this investigation will be used as the basis for planning a larger project that will measure the influence of the intervention on acceleration of weight gain in young children.
| Harvey-Berino, Jean; Rourke, Janine (2003) Obesity prevention in preschool native-american children: a pilot study using home visiting. Obes Res 11:606-11 |
