Let's Move Together.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Family Health
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Families share health behaviors and disease risks, making them effective targets for health promotion interventions.
• This study investigated the impact of family health history (FHH)-based risk information on health behaviors within Mexican-origin families.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess if FHH-based risk information for heart disease and diabetes influences parental encouragement of physical activity (PA) and healthy weight (HW) maintenance.
• To determine if FHH-based risk information affects parent-child co-engagement in PA.

Main Methods:

• 320 Mexican-origin parents and 1,081 children participated in a randomized study.
• Households received FHH-based risk assessments either individually or involving all adult members.
• Data on encouragement for PA/HW and PA co-engagement were collected at baseline and 10 months using regression analyses.

Main Results:

• Parental encouragement for PA/HW increased significantly from baseline (37.6%) to 10 months (56.8%).
• Child-to-parent encouragement also rose, and parent-child PA co-engagement increased from 11.4% to 15.7%.
• Involving all adult household members in FHH assessment was linked to greater parent-to-child encouragement.

Conclusions:

• Providing FHH information at the household level can enhance parental encouragement for PA/HW.
• This approach can foster increased parent-child co-engagement in PA, particularly in families with strong cultural ties.
• Utilizing FHH-based risk information for all adult household members is a promising strategy for promoting PA.