Abstract
BACKGROUND: This study examined the feasibility and acceptability of a home-based early childhood obesity prevention intervention designed to empower low-income racially/ethnically diverse parents to modify their children's health behaviors.
METHODS: We used a prospective design with pre-/posttest evaluation of 50 parent-child pairs (children aged 2 to 5 years) to examine potential changes in dietary, physical activity, and sedentary behaviors among children at baseline and four-month follow-up.
RESULTS: 39 (78%) parent-child pairs completed evaluation data at 4-month follow-up. Vegetable intake among children significantly increased at follow-up (0.54 cups at 4 months compared to 0.28 cups at baseline, P = 0.001) and ounces of fruit juice decreased at follow-up (11.9 ounces at 4 months compared to 16.0 ounces at baseline, P = 0.036). Sedentary behaviors also improved. Children significantly decreased time spent watching TV on weekdays (P < 0.01) and also reduced weekend TV time. In addition, the number of homes with TV sets in the child's bedroom also decreased (P < 0.0013).
CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that a home-based early childhood obesity prevention intervention is feasible, acceptable and demonstrates short-term effects on dietary and sedentary behaviors of low-income racially/ethnically diverse children.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-27-2014
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/378501
Repository Citation
Keita, Akilah Dulin; Risica, Patricia M.; Drenner, Kelli L.; Adams, Ingrid; Gorham, Gemma; and Gans, Kim M., "Feasibility and Acceptability of an Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Intervention: Results from the Healthy Homes, Healthy Families Pilot Study" (2014). Dietetics and Human Nutrition Faculty Publications. 6.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/foodsci_facpub/6
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Journal of Obesity, v. 2014, article ID 378501, p. 1-16.
Copyright © 2014 Akilah Dulin Keita et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.