Mindfulness Intervention for Parent Stress and Childhood Obesity Risk: A Randomized Trial
Nia Fogelman1, Heather Bernstein2,3, Tara Bautista4
1Yale School of Medicine, Yale Stress Center, New Haven, Connecticut.
Insights
A novel intervention combining parent stress management with nutrition education effectively reduced early childhood obesity risk. This approach also improved positive parenting and healthy food intake in children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Early childhood obesity is a growing public health concern.
- Parenting practices and parental stress significantly influence child weight status.
- Existing interventions often focus solely on nutrition or physical activity, neglecting the role of parental stress.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of a novel intervention, Parenting Mindfully for Health (PMH+N), which integrates parent stress management with nutrition education.
- To compare PMH+N with a control intervention (CTL+N) solely focused on nutrition and physical activity.
- To assess the impact on early childhood obesity risk, parent stress, parenting behaviors, and child food intake.
Main Methods:
- A 12-week randomized controlled trial involving 114 overweight parent-child dyads (children aged 2-5 years).
- Interventions included weekly group sessions with nutrition and physical activity psychoeducation.
- Coprimary outcomes were changes in child BMI z-score and parent stress; secondary outcomes included observed parenting and child food intake.
Main Results:
- The PMH+N group showed no significant increase in child BMI z-score, unlike the CTL+N group.
- Parent stress significantly decreased only in the PMH+N arm.
- PMH+N intervention led to increased positive parenting behaviors and reduced unhealthy child food intake.
Conclusions:
- Integrating parent stress management with nutrition education is effective in mitigating short-term early childhood obesity risk.
- The PMH+N intervention positively influences parenting behaviors and child dietary patterns.
- Further research is needed to determine the long-term effects of the PMH+N intervention.
Objective:
To assess whether a novel parent stress with nutrition vs nutrition alone intervention decreases early childhood obesity risk.
Methods:
A prospective, parallel, 12-week randomized controlled trial with parents who were overweight (114 dyads body mass index [BMI]: 34.7 ± 6.6) and their young children (aged 2-5 years) was conducted between November 2018 and July 2022. Parenting Mindfully for Health (PMH+N) was compared with the control (CTL+N) weekly group intervention, each with nutrition and physical activity (N) psychoeducation. Changes in child BMI and parent stress were coprimary outcomes, whereas observed parenting in an established laboratory-based parent-child Toy-Wait Task (TWT) and child food intake were secondary outcomes.
Results:
Child BMI z score significantly increased by 0.41 ([0.13, 0.69], P < .005) in the CTL+N, but PMH+N remained unchanged (0.20 [-0.49, 0.09], P > .17) over the 3-month follow-up, and parent stress decreased (3.17 [-5.19, -1.15] points, P < .003) only in the PMH+N arm. Significant time main effects indicated increased TWT positive parenting (2.82 [1.24, 4.4], P < .001) and reduced unhealthy child food intake (-1.78 [-3.02, -0.54]), driven by the PMH+N arm (P values <.02). Parent stress interacted with PMH+N vs CTL+N intervention to predict lower TWT positive parenting and child healthy food intake in the CTL+N arm (-1.74 [-3.26, -0.22] and -3.41 [-7.25, 0.42], respectively).
Conclusions:
Targeting parent stress with healthy nutrition is effective in preventing short-term early childhood obesity risk and in improving positive parenting and child healthy food intake. Further assessment of long-term effects of the PMH+N intervention on early childhood risk is warranted. (Clinical Trials Registration: NCT03950453).
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