Assessing the Feasibility of Partnering with a Home Visiting Program for Early Childhood Obesity Prevention

Little empirical data exists evaluating the feasibility of partnering with established home visiting programs to implement early childhood obesity prevention programs, despite the recommendation to do so. To inform this gap, we evaluated the feasibility of collecting anthropometric measurements of children by home visitors across multiple sites, and the alignment of these measurements with children in need, including with adverse family experiences (AFEs) given emerging evidence suggests an association with childhood obesity.

Our proof-of-concept study included primary data collection of child anthropometric measurements through an established home visiting program in four states. This sample included 248 children ages 6 months to 5 years.

In the sample, 37.1% of the children had overweight or obesity, 50% were female, 64.2% Hispanic/Latinx, 15.8% non-Hispanic Black, and 42.3% from rural/small towns. Households included substantial needs: 87.1% were low income, 73.8% low education, and 59.3% underemployment. Regarding AFEs, 38.3% of the children had at least one, with the most common being mothers who were treated violently. A multivariable model revealed community type, not AFEs, was significantly associated with overweight/obesity status, suggesting children in suburban and especially rural/small town residences (odds ratio 5.11; 95% CI [1.59, 16.39]) could be priority populations for childhood obesity prevention programs.

Findings of this multi-site study inform the feasibility of partnering with home visiting programs to reach and measure a diverse sample of children and families in need of childhood obesity prevention.