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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2019 Feb;51(2):237-244.
doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2018.09.001. Epub 2018 Oct 30.

The Impact of a Healthy Weight Intervention Embedded in a Home-Visiting Program on Children's Weight and Mothers' Feeding Practices

Alexandra B Morshed  1 , Rachel G Tabak  2 , Cynthia D Schwarz  2 , Debra Haire-Joshu  3
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The Impact of a Healthy Weight Intervention Embedded in a Home-Visiting Program on Children's Weight and Mothers' Feeding Practices

Alexandra B Morshed et al. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: To examine whether a healthy weight intervention embedded in the Parents as Teachers (PAT) home visiting program, which was previously found to improve mothers' body mass index (BMI) and obesity-related behaviors, changed the BMI of preschool children or maternal feeding practices.

Methods: This stratified randomized trial included preschool-aged children at risk for overweight whose mothers were overweight or had obesity (n = 179). The Healthy Eating and Active Living Taught at Home (HEALTH) intervention was based on the Diabetes Prevention Program. Differences were examined using repeated-measures mixed-ANOVA models.

Results: Compared with PAT usual care, the HEALTH intervention had no effect on children's BMI or maternal feeding practices. However, combined analyses showed that children's BMI percentile decreased (P = .007), BMI z-scores were maintained (P = .19), and 3 of 8 feeding practices improved over time (P < .05).

Conclusions and implications: Additional research is needed to assess the effectiveness of PAT to prevent preschool-age obesity using rigorous designs (eg, group-randomized trials) and to identify its active components. HEALTH is ready to be scaled up to prevent maternal weight gain through embedding within the national PAT program.

Keywords: home-based intervention; mother–child dyad; obesity; preschool children.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

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