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Personal Activity Trackers and Family Engagement in a Pediatric Obesity Intervention: Randomized Controlled Trial

Juan Carlos Espinoza Salomon1,2, Mahsa Babaei3, Alexis Deavenport-Saman3,4

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, 303 E Superior St, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States, 1 312 5031499.

JMIR Formative Research
|November 5, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Personal activity trackers can improve pediatric obesity interventions by engaging parents. This digital health approach showed better weight outcomes in families who completed the program.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Digital Health
  • Pediatric Health

Background:

  • Pediatric obesity is a significant national health issue.
  • Parental involvement is crucial for effective obesity interventions.
  • Digital health tools, like activity trackers, can enhance parental engagement.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Assess the feasibility and acceptability of using personal activity trackers in a family-based pediatric obesity intervention (BodyWorks) at a Federally Qualified Health Center.
  • Evaluate the impact of activity trackers on parental engagement, anthropometrics, and program outcomes.
  • Examine the relationship between daily steps, usage time, and body composition in children.

Main Methods:

  • 158 families were randomized into two groups: a control (BodyWorks) and an intervention (BodyWorks + physical activity tracker).
  • Weight-by-height outcomes, including BMI, BMI z scores, and BMI percentile, were compared between groups.
  • Statistical analysis adjusted for baseline differences to compare outcomes.

Main Results:

  • No significant differences were observed between study arms at baseline.
  • A significant group difference in children's BMI z scores was found from baseline to postintervention (P for interaction=.01).

Conclusions:

  • Families in the intervention group showed slightly improved weight outcomes compared to controls.
  • Digital health interventions show promise for enhancing parental engagement in pediatric obesity programs.
  • Personal activity trackers may be a valuable tool in comprehensive family-based lifestyle interventions for pediatric obesity.
Abstract

Keywords:
digital health interventionfederally qualified health centerobesitypediatricsunderserved population

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