Simplified health vocabulary and multiple modes of presentation resulted in accessible and understandable health education regarding obesity, nutrition, exercise, and portion size. This study yields compelling evidence that the Fitwits tools are an effective method to promote knowledge about obesity. Future studies are needed to determine whether this knowledge can affect health outcomes.
Background: Physician feelings of ineffectiveness and family-related barriers hamper childhood obesity discussions. Physicians desire appealing, time-efficient tools to frame and sensitively address obesity, body mass index, physical activity, nutrition, and portion size. Our university design-led coalition codeveloped tools and games for this purpose.Methods: In this feasibility study, we evaluated physician-level counseling of 9-to 12-year-old children and their parents/caretakers using Fitwits MD (Carnegie Mellon University School of Design, Pittsburgh, PA), a brief, structured intervention with flashcards and take-home games. Residency-based physicians in three low-to mid-level socioeconomic urban offices provided self-report data over 8 months through surveys, comment cards, and interviews.Results: We recruited 33 physicians and 93 preadolescents and families. Child-centered key messages resulted in 7-minute conversations, on average. For those physicians who used Fitwits MD, 96% felt improved comfort and competence and 78% noted barrier reduction.
Culturally appropriate, evidence-based interventions selected by intervention sites resulted in increased adult vaccinations in disadvantaged, racially diverse, inner-city populations over 2 to 4 years.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.