Extension Family Lifestyle Intervention Project (E-FLIP for Kids)

Summary

The Extension Family Lifestyle Intervention Project (E-FLIP for Kids) trial will evaluate the impact of a community based intervention delivered to families in rural settings utilizing the existing Cooperative Extension Service network on child dietary intake and weight. Specifically, the E-FLIP for Kids study will determine if behavioral treatments for child obesity lead to greater improvement in child weight compared to educational only treatment.Participants will include 240 parent-child dyads from ten rural counties in north central Florida. Study outcomes will be measure prior to treatment, at the end of treatment (month 12) and at one year follow-up (month 24). All treatment meetings will be held at Cooperative Extension Service offices within each participating county.

Conditions

• Obesity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Behavioral Child Tx Contacts

Each parent and child dyad will participate in group meetings. Children and parents will meet in simultaneous, but separate, groups at each meeting. The intervention will include 12 sessions over 16 weeks. Families will also participate in a maintenance intervention for the next eight months. The primary treatment objectives will be to decrease caloric intake in a nutritionally sound manner and to increase moderate intensity exercise. Changes in dietary habits will be addressed via a modified version of the Stoplight System. Children and adults will be encouraged to eat a well-balanced diet based on the food guide pyramid. Parents and children will also be given pedometers and they will be asked to keep track of the number of steps they take each day. Each week parents and children will set goals to gradually increase physical activity. Parent and their children will be asked to record what they eat and drink, as well as their physical activity on daily food logs.

BEHAVIORAL

Behavioral Parent-Tx Contacts

Only the participating parent(s) will attend group meetings. The intervention will include weekly sessions for the first 8 weeks and biweekly sessions for the next 8 weeks. They will also participate in a maintenance intervention for eight months. Each session will last 90 minutes. The sessions for parents in the parent-only program will be structured the same as the parents sessions for the family-based intervention and will also cover the same topics. As with the family-based intervention, the parent and their children assigned to the parent-only intervention will be asked to record what they eat and drink, as well as their physical activity, on a daily basis. Each week group interventionists will model the goal setting process with parents and suggest a general range of age-appropriate dietary and physical activity targets that might be appropriate for each child and parent.

OTHER

Dietary and Physical Activity Information

Both the child and parent will attend the treatment sessions in this program. The condition will include a series of meetings addressing key aspects of nutrition, physical activity, and health promotion such as national guidelines regarding proper nutrition, guidelines for physical activity, strategies to cope with stress, healthy sources and guidelines for intake of fiber, calcium, protein, grains \& carbohydrates. Topics will also include use of vitamin \& mineral supplements, dental and sleep hygiene, self-esteem, family communication, and assertiveness training in dealing with peer victimization. The families in the Health Education group will not receive training in behavioral self-regulation strategies, such as goal setting and self-monitoring. Children will participate in a group physical activity during each session such as frisbee, jump rope, stoplight tag. They will also sample healthy snacks such as pretzels or fruits and vegetables.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Florida

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• David M Janicke, Ph.D. · University of Florida

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

8 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2009-07-31

Primary Completion

2014-04-30

Completion

2014-04-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations