Healthy Environments Study (HEROs)

Summary

Obesity is a multi-dimensional problem that has roots in infancy and tracks into adulthood. Obesity is represented disproportionately among children and families from low socioeconomic and minority backgrounds, particularly in rural areas that have limited access to food, activity, and health-related services. There is a need for culturally-tailored, effective interventions that can positively impact the environments (home, preschool, community) in which young children grow and develop their eating and activity behaviors. Developing family interventions, particularly for families with limited resources, requires improving caregivers' health literacy and home food/activity environments, and also requires tailoring to accommodate the realities of stressful and unpredictable family settings. The overall objective of this proposed HEROs Study (HEalthy EnviROnments Study) is to develop a companion, technology-based, interactive family intervention that will promote healthy lifestyles for young children in both Head Start and family settings.

Conditions

• Health Behavior
• Childhood Obesity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

HEROs

Intervention Description: The intervention will consist of a 6-week family workshop series, held one evening per week for six consecutive weeks. The intervention modules will be delivered by trained researchers at two preschool sites in rural Colorado in Fall 2019 and Spring 2020. The primary caregiver and preschool child will be the targets of the study. Each of the workshops will be structured to include joint caregiver-child activities and programming that is tailored for caregivers and children individually. Caregivers will learn about and engage in activities related to healthy eating and picky eating; physical activity and motor development; and parenting strategies. Children will participate in activities focused on healthful eating and physical activity that supports content their parents are learning.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Colorado, Denver

  collaborator OTHER

• New Mexico State University

  collaborator OTHER

• Pennington Biomedical Research Center

  collaborator OTHER

• Cornell University

  collaborator OTHER

• Colorado State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Laura L Bellows, PhD · Colorado State University

• Susan L Johnson, PhD · University of Colorado, Denver

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

3 Years

Max Age

5 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-09-01

Primary Completion

2020-09-30

Completion

2020-09-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations