Improving Parent-Child Interactions to Enhance Child Health
Child ObesityChildhood obesity is a formidable public health issue in the United States, disproportionately affecting children from lower socioeconomic status households. Onset of obesity predicts cardiometabolic risks and other health problems in adolescence and into adulthood; thus, effective and early prevention is critical. Healthy parenting may play a pivotal role in preventing early childhood obesity. Warm, responsive, and consistent parenting is associated with the development of child self-regulation as well as healthy eating and physical activity practices, and thus may be protective against obesity risk. Targeting the parent-child relationship may be especially important when facilitating behavior change in parents who have ongoing stressors (e.g., low-income families). The proposed study aims to test an adaptation of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), an innovative parent management program that improves the parent-child relationship and enhances general parenting skills through the use of therapeutic in vivo coaching. Our adapted version, PCIT-Health, is a selective-prevention intervention that includes content specific to improving parent-child interactions and parenting in obesity-salient contexts, such as mealtime and child screen time. This project will elucidate novel approaches to, and novel targets of, early childhood obesity prevention and will provide data critical to test PCIT-Health in a large-scale randomized controlled trial. Parent-child dyads will be randomly assigned to PCIT-Health or a waitlist control in order to accomplish the following aims: AIM 1: To assess the acceptability and feasibility of the PCIT-Health delivery and assessment methods in low-income parents of overweight young children ages 3 to 6 years. AIM 2: To test the preliminary efficacy and estimate the effect size of PCIT-Health on changes in child BMI z-score (primary outcome) from baseline to (1) intervention completion and (2) 6-month post-intervention. AIM 3: To explore the effect of PCIT-Health on the following secondary outcomes: (1) parent-child relationship quality, (2) parent behavior management skills, (3) child self-regulation, (4) child eating behaviors, (5) child physical activity, and (6) child screen media use.
Testing the Feasibility and Preliminary Effect of Summer Camp
Childhood Obesity PreventionThis pilot randomized controlled trial was designed to assess the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of randomizing children, ages 6-12 years from two low-income communities in Rhode Island, to attend a summer day camp (CAMP) or to experience summer as usual (SAU). Children randomized to CAMP attended a Boys and Girls Club summer day camp for 8-weeks in summer 2017 or 2018. As part of the consent process, children randomized to SAU agreed to experience an unstructured summer (i.e. not enroll in more than one week of summer camp, summer school or other structured summer programming). Primary feasibility outcomes included retention, engagement and completion of midsummer measures. Secondary outcomes, change in BMIz (a proxy for excess summer weight gain), physical activity engagement, sedentary behavior, and diet (energy intake and diet quality), were collected by blinded research staff at the end of the school year, midsummer and the end of the summer.
Swimming and Water Walking on Spirometry Values
Child DevelopmentChild Obesity1 moreTo study the effects of swimming with water walking in children aged between 6 and 12 years in terms of spirometric values.
Participatory Intervention to Improve Nutrition and Physical Activity in Schoolchildren From Acatlán...
Sedentary BehaviorAdipose Tissue1 moreThis is a community project carried out jointly by the Technological Institute of Higher Studies of the West (ITESO), the University Center of Tonalá of the University of Guadalajara (CUTonalá) and the University Center of Health Sciences of the University of Guadalajara ( CUCS) with advice from the National Institute of Public Health (INSP), financed by the Tresmontes Lucchetti company and endorsed by the Jalisco Association of Nutritionists, AC (AJANUT). This project follows the provisions of the "National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Overweight, Obesity and Diabetes" signed by the executive branch of the Federal Government. In particular, this project is inserted within the Public Health Strategy, in the strategic axis of Health Promotion and educational communication (while still having an impact on the axes of Epidemiological Surveillance and Prevention). In addition, it follows the agreement in which the general guidelines for the expenditure and distribution of food and beverages prepared and processed in the schools of the National Educational System were obtained, proposed by the Ministries of Health and Public Education. The aforementioned referrals are intended to protect and improve the health of Mexican children.
Early Years Physical Activity and Movement Skills Intervention: a Feasibility Study
Child ObesityActivity2 moreThis project aims to test the feasibility of using an existing training course for nursery practitioners (those that care for children aged under 5 years) to improve their ability and confidence to teach fundamental movement skills to the children they care for. 'Fundamental movement skills', or FMS, are based on agility, balance and coordination, and include jumping, throwing, catching, striking and running and are vital for children's involvement in, and enjoyment from, physical activities and sports. The intervention consists of a one-day course given by specialist providers, specifically for those who work with children under 5. The intervention aims to increase practitioner knowledge and awareness, and increase confidence in their ability to provide age-appropriate guidance and settings for FMS and active play. The implication from the training is that the children's FMS and overall physical activity will increase, whilst decreasing time spent in sedentary behaviours. A long-term aim of the project would be the maintenance of a healthy weight by the children and increase in self-efficacy for physical activity. The benefits of the study, therefore, are an increase in practitioner confidence and knowledge, and a positive change in their behaviour during their everyday practice. As this is a feasibility study, the main objective is whether a full trial would be feasible. The primary outcomes are therefore 1. Recruitment (ratio of consented participants to potentially eligible participants approached) 2. Numbers completing study 3. Numbers completing study questionnaires 4. Acceptability of the intervention to participants.
Effect of Dietary Fat Cooking Blend on Energy Expenditure in Children
Childhood ObesityThe purpose of this study is to test the effects of a cooking oil blend of dietary fats rich in medium chain triglycerides on energy expenditure and food intake in overweight and obese children.
Reducing Television Viewing to Prevent Childhood Obesity
ObesityCardiovascular DiseasesRandomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of reducing television, videotape and video game use to prevent obesity, increase physical activity, improve physical fitness, and decrease dietary fat and calorie intake among third grade children in twelve ethnically-diverse elementary schools.
GENYAL Study to Childhood Obesity Prevention
Childhood Onset ObesityObesity is a multifactorial, complex, chronic disease of special concern. It is originated as an interaction between genetic predisposition and environmental factors. Thus, knowledge of gene-diet interactions is especially important. However, most studies analyzing the efficacy of diet on body weight have not considered the genetic variability among the population. Childhood and adolescence are critical periods in the development of obesity. This is because, on one hand, during infancy dietary patterns are being implemented. Moreover, it has been described that around the age of 6 it occurs the adiposity rebound, which consists in the increase in body mass index (BMI) that occurs after reaching a lowest point in infancy. It is believed that an early adiposity rebound is associated with a higher risk of developing obesity in the following years. The prevalence of overweight and obese children is increasing every year. Specifically, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) the number of overweight or obese children aged 0 to 5 years, increased from 32 million globally in 1990 to 41 million in 2016. Regarding Spanish children, they are amongst the highest levels of overweight and obesity in Europe. Precisely, in 2015 the Spanish Agency for Consumer Affairs, Food Safety and Nutrition reported 23.2 % overweight and 18.1 % obese Spanish children, according to the ALADINO study. Considering the previous elaboration, we hypothesized that an early identification of SNPs associated with obesity will improve the strategies applied for its prevention. Moreover, an adequate nutritional counseling and a healthy lifestyle implementation during childhood will contribute to a higher quality of life in the adulthood. Thus, schools from the Madrid Community agreeing to participate in the study will be randomly assigned to either control or intervention groups. Then, an initial evaluation where 26 SNPs associated with obesity and its related comorbidities will be carried out in all children involved in the study, in addition to anthropometric, blood pressure measurements, and physical activity and dietary patterns evaluation. Then, each group will be divided in two according to the genetic risk (high vs low) for presenting obesity and its related comorbidities. The initial evaluation was performed on all children at 1st and 2nd grades and it is going to be followed by 3 monitoring actions in the following years where the progression of anthropometric measurements and dietary habits are going to be studied. Besides, the intervention schools are going to receive healthy actions along the study aimed to reduce the risk of developing obesity.
Rural Disparities in Pediatric Obesity: The iAmHealthy Intervention
Weight LossThe purpose of this study is to learn if providing a family-based group program using mobile health technology (iAmHealthy Healthy Lifestyles Program) is effective at improving child weight, nutrition, and physical activity.
Addressing Health Disparities in Childhood Obesity, One Summer at a Time
ObesityChildhoodAlmost 50% of Native American and Hispanic children are overweight or obese by the 5th grade. Research has demonstrated that the 'obesity gap' facing minority students is largely due to summer weight gain. However, very few summer programs have been tested among these populations. To encourage summer physical activity, the CDC developed a program that partners with local businesses to provide children with a 'scorecard' of subsidized or free local activities. The program has not been tested among Hispanic or Native American children. This study aims to test the impact of the scorecard program on Body Mass Index percentile, physical activity, sedentary behavior, barriers to physical activity and self-efficacy.