Get healthy together: a program to improve counseling for childhood obesity in community-based WIC clinics

Counseling parents of overweight children is a sensitive issue that has been reported to be difficult for many health professionals. The Get Healthy Together (GHT) project involved an 18-month intervention that provided skills training and new tools to Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program staff and a staff wellness program to improve the physical self-concept and functioning of WIC employees. All WIC staff from the 48 WIC clinics in New Mexico participated in this study. The design used random assignment to intervention or control condition. Staff participating in the Get Healthy Together project reported improved confidence in their ability to counsel parents of overweight children and improved counseling skills related to health behaviors. Use of the innovative tools provided visual aids that helped parents understand the health implications of their child's weight without the parents becoming defensive. These tools are publicly available in English and Spanish on the WIC Works Sharing Gallery (website: http://www.nal.usda.gov/wicworks/Sharing_Center/gallery/healthytogether.html).