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Feasibility of an obesity intervention for paediatric primary care targeting parenting and children: Helping HAND

T M O'Connor1, A Hilmers, K Watson

  • 1USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA. teresiao@bcm.edu

Child: Care, Health and Development
|November 10, 2011
PubMed

Insights

The Helping HAND (Healthy Activity and Nutrition Directions) program is a feasible obesity intervention for children in primary care. It showed good attendance and improvements in some child and parenting behaviors, despite no significant changes in BMI or physical activity.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric obesity prevention
  • Primary care interventions
  • Lifestyle behavior modification

Background:

  • Primary care settings are ideal for promoting healthy lifestyles and improving child weight status.
  • Early intervention is crucial for addressing childhood obesity.
  • Parental involvement is key to successful childhood obesity interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the feasibility of the Helping HAND (Healthy Activity and Nutrition Directions) program.
  • To assess an obesity intervention for 5- to 8-year-old children in primary care.
  • To determine the impact of a primary care-based obesity intervention on child behaviors and parental practices.

Main Methods:

  • A randomized controlled pilot study of the 6-month Helping HAND intervention.
  • Targeted children with BMI between the 85th-99th percentile and their parents.
  • Measured outcomes included session completion, satisfaction, anthropometrics, diet, physical activity, TV viewing, and parenting practices.

Main Results:

  • Forty parent-child dyads enrolled; 82.5% were Hispanic, 80% girls, 65% low income.
  • Attrition was 20%; families self-selected an average of 4.35 behaviors.
  • No significant differences in BMI z-score, diet, or physical activity; TV viewing decreased in the intervention group (14.9 vs 23.3 h/week, P < 0.05).

Conclusions:

  • Helping HAND is a feasible obesity intervention in primary care.
  • Low attrition and good attendance indicate program viability.
  • Clinically relevant improvements were observed in select child and parenting behaviors.
Abstract

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