Enhancing Self Regulation as a Strategy for Obesity Prevention in Head Start Preschoolers

Summary

The goal of this integrated project targeting the Childhood Obesity Prevention Challenge Area is to reduce the prevalence of obesity among children attending Head Start in Michigan. The proposed intervention program is based on Social Cognitive theory and the premise that enhancing children's capacity for emotional and behavioral self-regulation is a key component of effective obesity prevention. A randomized controlled trial design is proposed to evaluate, among 600 Head Start children and their parents, the effectiveness of 2 approaches to obesity prevention: (1) the Parents of Preschoolers Prevention Series (POPS), a curriculum delivered to preschoolers and their parents focused on obesity-related health behaviors; and (2) POPS in combination with the Incredible Years Series (IYS), an evidence-based program designed to improve preschoolers' emotional and behavioral self-regulation. The research objective is to test the hypotheses that: (1) POPS, compared to Usual Head Start exposure, will lead to greater improvements in obesity-related health behaviors and adiposity indices; and (2) POPS + IYS will lead to the greatest improvements in obesity-related health behaviors and adiposity indices, and this effect will be mediated by improved self-regulation. The extension objective is to evaluate the feasibility, fidelity, and educational effectiveness of the POPS and POPS + IYS interventions, as delivered by paraprofessionals and educators within Extension and Head Start. The education objective is to provide Extension and Head Start staff non-formal training and educational curricula which can be widely disseminated. The long-term goal of this project is disseminate a novel and effective approach to obesity prevention in preschoolers.

Conditions

• Obesity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Parents of Preschoolers Series

The POPS-Parent intervention consists of eight 60-90 minute lessons about preventing childhood obesity followed by four 10-minute reinforcing telephone contacts. Each lesson includes opportunities for parents to develop and practice skills, and a discussion of strategies to overcome challenges and problem-solving techniques, with an emphasis on building knowledge and self-efficacy. The POPS-Child Intervention uses children's stories with embedded healthy nutrition themes. Five lessons (6 books) are delivered over 12 weeks. Activities include classroom cooking experiences, games/activities associated with the story's nutrition themes, and goal setting. "Family Links" and "Parent Pages" are sent home to reinforce content from school to home.

BEHAVIORAL

Incredible Years Series

The Parent component (BASIC) is a group-based program (12-14 weeks, 2 hours/week) focused on enhancing parenting skills such as using effective praise, incentives, and limit-setting, and handling misbehavior. Parents complete homework activities that will be reviewed in group sessions and receive follow-up reinforcement phone calls. For the Child component ("Dinosaur School"), 60, 15-20 minute lessons are delivered during "Circle Time" in Head Start classrooms followed by small group activities. The curriculum focuses on teaching self-regulation skills, problem-solving strategies, and prosocial behaviors. Teachers are trained in classroom management strategies.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Michigan State University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Michigan

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Julie Lumeng, MD · University of Michigan

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

2 Years

Max Age

6 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2011-03-31

Primary Completion

2015-05-31

Completion

2015-05-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations