Growing Right Onto Wellness (GROW): A family-centered, community-based obesity prevention randomized controlled trial for preschool child–parent pairs

Abstract

Growing Right Onto Wellness (GROW) is a randomized controlled trial that tests the efficacy of a family-centered, community-based, behavioral intervention to prevent childhood obesity among preschool-aged children. Focusing on parent-child pairs, GROW utilizes a multi-level framework, which accounts for macro (i.e., built-environment) and micro (i.e., genetics) level systems that contribute to the childhood obesity epidemic. Six hundred parent-child pairs will be randomized to a 3-year healthy lifestyle intervention or a 3-year school readiness program. Eligible children are enrolled between ages 3 and 5, are from minority communities, and are not obese. The principal site for the GROW intervention is local community recreation centers and libraries. The primary outcome is childhood Body Mass Index (BMI) trajectory at the end of the three-year study period. In addition to other anthropometric measurements, mediators and moderators of growth are considered, including genetics, accelerometry, and diet recall. GROW is a staged intensity intervention, consisting of intensive, maintenance, and sustainability phases. Throughout the study, parents build skills in nutrition, physical activity, and parenting, concurrently forming new social networks. Participants are taught goal-setting, self-monitoring, and problem solving techniques to facilitate sustainable behavior change. The GROW curriculum uses low health literacy communication and social media to communicate key health messages. The control arm is administered to both control and intervention participants. By conducting this trial in public community centers, and by implementing a family-centered approach to sustainable healthy childhood growth, we aim to develop an exportable community-based intervention to address the expanding public health crisis of pediatric obesity.

Beyond the dinner table: who’s having breakfast, lunch and dinner family meals and which meals are associated with better diet quality and BMI in pre-school children?

“…30,31 The Institutional Review Board (IRB) Human Subjects Committee at the University of Minnesota and Vanderbilt University approved all protocols used in NET-Works GROW Study, respectively. All participants signed written informed consent prior to participation into the respective studies.…”

Validity of the toddler feeding questionnaire for measuring parent authoritative and indulgent feeding practices which are associated with stress and health literacy among Latino parents of preschool children

“…We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data collected from parent–child pairs enrolled in the Growing Right Onto Wellness (GROW) randomized controlled trial (clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT01316653) of a 3-year family-centered behavioral intervention delivered in local community centers [17]. This study was approved by the Vanderbilt Institutional Review Board, and all adult participants signed informed consent prior to participating [18].…”

“…1). Full eligibility criteria have been published elsewhere [17] but included (1) 3–5 year old child; (2) child’s BMI >50th percentile and <95th percentile on standardized Center for Disease Control growth curves; (3) parent age ≥18 years; (4) parent commitment to participate in the duration of the 3-year study; (5) parent and child completion of baseline data collection; and (6) family must reside or frequently pass through one of two geographic regions in Nashville that is contiguous with a community center designated for the intervention. We included in this study only the 555 Latino parent–child pairs.…”

Smart Homes and Sensors for Surveillance and Preventive Education at Home: Example of Obesity

“…This association depends on the nature of the relationship and on the age of the individual. When he is a child, an individual is greatly influenced by the familial eating habits [4,36,[54][55][56] and physical activity behaviors [30]. In [57], the authors describe the parents' education as one of the main determinants of obesity.…”

“…They suggested that a higher density of fast foods (respectively park areas) in the neighborhood was correlated with an increased likelihood of overweight/obesity (respectively LTPA). In [56], the authors observed a strong association between individuals and their peers' health behavior (exercise practice, feeding habits) in young adults. Although they could not show an actual causality, they concluded that the health behavior of one's peers influences the development of a similar behavior in a young individual.…”