Rates of pediatric overweight represent a public health crisis which shows no signs of abating [5-6]. Pediatric overweight is associated with numerous physical and psychological health risks, and overweight children are at significant risk for obesity in adulthood [15]. Thus, treatment of pediatric overweight is an important step in the prevention of adult obesity. African-American children are at particularly high risk for overweight and its related health complications [6-9]. However, this ethnic group has traditionally had limited access to obesity treatment [78] and relatively few studies have included sufficient numbers of lower-SES, African American participants. Further, although parental involvement in treatment for pediatric overweight has been found to be beneficial [17-20], few studies have examined the efficacy of offering treatment exclusively to parents, a potentially cost-effective approach which could benefit the entire family [72]. This R03 project will evaluate the efficacy of an intensive parenting intervention, (NOURISH), targeting ethnically diverse parents of overweight children (ages 6-11). In contrast to previous research in the field, NOURISH addresses several urgent research priorities by targeting the underserved and addressing the significant disparity in obesity treatment services. Parents meeting study criteria (having a child between the ages of 6 and 11 with a BMI greater than the 85th percentile) will be offered participation in the randomized trial comparing NOURISH with a placebo control group. We hypothesize that children whose parents participate in NOURISH will manifest greater decreases in BMI, and greater improvements in dietary intake and quality of life compared to children whose parents do not participate. This study is designed explicitly to gather preliminary data to inform sample size and power calculations for a subsequent larger randomized controlled trial. Project Narrative: The percentage of overweight children between the ages of 6 and 11 has nearly tripled in the last three decades, and rates are even higher among African Americans. Overweight children are at-risk for numerous health problems, thus effective treatments are urgently needed. This study will evaluate an innovative intervention for ethnically diverse parents (NOURISH), which focuses on helping parents role model and teach their children healthy behaviors.
| Lydecker, Janet A; Simpson, Courtney; Kwitowski, Melissa et al. (2017) Evaluation of Parent-Reported Feeding Practices in a Racially Diverse, Treatment-Seeking Child Overweight/Obesity Sample. Child Health Care 46:265-281 |
| Mazzeo, Suzanne E; Kelly, Nichole R; Stern, Marilyn et al. (2014) Parent skills training to enhance weight loss in overweight children: evaluation of NOURISH. Eat Behav 15:225-9 |
| Mazzeo, Suzanne E; Kelly, Nichole R; Stern, Marilyn et al. (2012) Nourishing Our Understanding of Role Modeling to Improve Support and Health (NOURISH): design and methods. Contemp Clin Trials 33:515-22 |
| Bean, Melanie K; Wilson, Diane Baer; Thornton, Laura M et al. (2012) Dietary intake in a randomized-controlled pilot of NOURISH: a parent intervention for overweight children. Prev Med 55:224-7 |
| Kelly, N R; Bulik, C M; Mazzeo, S E (2011) An exploration of body dissatisfaction and perceptions of Black and White girls enrolled in an intervention for overweight children. Body Image 8:379-84 |
