CHILE: Outcomes of a group randomized controlled trial of an intervention to prevent obesity in preschool Hispanic and American Indian children

Abstract

Objective We examined the outcomes of the Child Health Initiative for Lifelong Eating and Exercise (CHILE) study, a group randomized controlled trial to design, implement, and test the efficacy of a trans-community intervention to prevent obesity in children enrolled in Head Start centers in rural American Indian and Hispanic communities in New Mexico. Methods CHILE was a 5-year evidence-based intervention that used a socioecological approach to improving dietary intake and increasing physical activity of 1898 children. The intervention included a classroom curriculum, teacher and food service training, family engagement, grocery store participation, and healthcare provider support. Height and weight measurements were obtained four times (fall of 2008, spring and fall of 2009, and spring of 2010), and body mass index (BMI) z-scores in the intervention and comparison groups were compared. Results At baseline, demographic characteristics in the comparison and intervention groups were similar, and 33% of all the children assessed were obese or overweight. At the end of the intervention, there was no significant difference between the two groups in BMI z-scores. Conclusions Obesity prevention research among Hispanic and AI preschool children in rural communities is challenging and complex. Although the CHILE intervention was implemented successfully, changes in overweight and obesity may take longer than 2 years to achieve.

ANDALE Pittsburgh: results of a promotora-led, home-based intervention to promote a healthy weight in Latino preschool children

“…We saw a significant reduction in BMI percentile for those children who were overweight or obese at baseline. These results are similar to previous studies with young Latino children where the strongest intervention effect was seen in the obese children [ 40 – 42 ], while others saw no effect [ 14 , 15 , 43 , 44 ]. In general, results have been mixed regarding intervention effects on BMI of preschool-aged children [ 7 , 8 , 45 , 46 ].…”

Exploring How the Home Environment Influences Eating and Physical Activity Habits of Low-Income, Latino Children of Predominantly Immigrant Families: A Qualitative Study

“…Parents are central to developing a home environment conducive of children’s development of healthy eating and PA behaviors [ 17 ]. Prior research suggests that several characteristics of the home environment including parental modeling, parenting styles and parenting practices influence children’s eating, PA, SB, and weight status [ 4 , 16 , 22 , 24 , 30 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 ]. Therefore, the present qualitative study was designed to explore low-income Latino parents’ beliefs, parenting styles and parenting practices related to healthy eating and PA of their children while at home.…”

Impact of Parent Engagement in Childhood Obesity Prevention Interventions on Anthropometric Indices among Preschool Children: A Systematic Review

“…24,27,32,36 Duration of intervention was less than 6 months in most of the studies, [19][20][21][22][23][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]34,[36][37][38][41][42][43] and only six studies had intervention duration of 12 months or more. 24,33,35,39,40,44 Improvement in anthropometric indices was seen in 3 out of 6 studies with intervention period of 12 months and more. 24,35,39 This result was seen in 9 out of 20 studies with equal or less than 6-month intervention period.…”

“…In 13 studies, target population for intervention was both parents and children. 19,21,23,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] Among these studies, only four had significant improvement in the main outcome. Other 11 studies targeted only parents and the remaining 2 articles focused on both parents and educators.…”