Healthy Habits, Happy Homes: An Intervention to Improve Household Routines for Obesity Prevention

Summary

While childhood obesity rates may have plateaued in some US population subgroups, such as whites and those of higher socioeconomic status, overall rates of obesity remain high and racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities appear to be widening. Among the most promising approaches for childhood obesity prevention and management are interventions that begin early in life and that support change at the individual and community levels.

The goal of this project is to develop and test an intervention delivered to racial/ethnic minority and low income parents of 2-5 year old children in their homes, designed to promote adoption of household routines and parenting strategies that are preventive of obesity. To achieve this goal, the investigators will work with community health centers in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville to recruit families to participate in an individual-level randomized controlled trial. The investigators partner community health centers include the Roxbury Comprehensive Community Health Center, Dimock Community Health Centers, and the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA).

Participants will be randomized to receive either 1) mailed educational materials for the duration of the 6-month program (control), or 2) home-based health coaching visits and phone calls with a health educator, text messages, and educational materials promoting the adoption of household routines and target behaviors (intervention).

The investigators goal is to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the investigators designed intervention (as compared to the control condition) using baseline and post-intervention data. In order to do so, the investigators will assess change from baseline to post-intervention in the investigators key behavioral outcomes of interest, including adoption of three household routines:

1. Regularly eating meals together as a family
2. Obtaining adequate sleep
3. Limiting screen-viewing time

Conditions

• Obesity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Home-Based Health Coaching

The 6-month intervention arm consists of 3 components: 1. In-home coaching visits with a health educator trained in motivational interviewing to encourage behavior change. In addition to 4 monthly in-home coaching visits, participants receive 4 monthly coaching phone calls to supplement the in-person visits. 2. Use of mobile technology to deliver health information by text message - participants receive messages twice weekly for 16 weeks and then weekly for 8 weeks of the program. Those without a phone capable of receiving text messages receive postcards by mail. 3. Printed materials, including educational handouts, newsletters, and activities highlighting target behaviors, sent monthly for 4 months.

BEHAVIORAL

Mailed materials

We designed materials for our control group focusing on Developmental milestones during early childhood to provide information that participants would find relevant and helpful for parenting, but that would also not influence intervention behaviors, such as TV viewing or household routines related to sleeping, eating, or television viewing. Participants received 4 monthly mailing packages, each focusing thematically on one of four milestone domains: motor, language, cognitive and social/emotional. Educational materials were adapted from the Center for Disease Control's "Positive Parenting Tips for Healthy Child Development", and the mailing included child-appropriate incentives to reinforce the concepts presented in the educational materials.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

  collaborator FED

• Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)

  collaborator OTHER

• Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Elsie Taveras, MD, MPH · Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

• Julia McDonald, MS, MPH · Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

2 Years

Max Age

5 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2011-06-30

Primary Completion

2012-08-31

Completion

2012-08-31

Countries

• United States
• Canada

Study Locations