A Newsletter/Text Message Intervention Promoting Beverage-Related Parenting Practices: Pilot Test Results

Positive beverage parenting practices may reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption by children and prevent potential health problems. An online newsletter/text message intervention was conducted with parents of children 6 to 12 years to improve beverage parenting practices. Newsletters and text messages were sent weekly over a 4-week period providing gain-framed messages encouraging parenting practices including role modeling and controlling home beverage availability. Pre-post surveys included measures of home availability of beverages and parent beverage intake as an indication of parenting practices. Parents were primarily White, well-educated, and female. About one third lived in rural areas. Results from 100 parents with pre-post data from baseline to 4 weeks showed decreased reported home availability of regular soda pop (p = .008), decreased parent intake of sweetened beverages (p = .004), and decreased parent-reported child intake of regular soft drinks (p = .001), and sweetened juice drink beverages (p < .0001). Most parents (82%) reported reading all three newsletters and indicated that the information provided was relevant (93%). A brief newsletter/text message intervention may be a positive and convenient approach to promote positive beverage parenting practices.