Preliminary Effects of Tailoring an Obesity Prevention Intervention Program for Latino Immigrant Families

Abstract

An obesity preventive intervention program for preschool families, Healthy Balance, was tested in 2 sequential pilot trials. The first pilot tested the original and translated group intervention in a heterogeneous population (65 families), and the second tested the feasibility of a culturally adapted version for Latinx immigrant families (27 families). No significant study 1 intervention effects were found. However, in study 2, there were significant improvements in parent body mass index, neck circumference, and blood pressure. These studies suggest that targeting family system change and tailoring the intervention for Latinx immigrant populations is feasible and has the potential to improve obesity-related biomarkers.

Cultural adaptations of obesity‐related behavioral prevention interventions in early childhood: A systematic review

“…Table 2 summarizes the included interventions ( n = 12) and articles ( n = 16) 46–61 . Detailed intervention characteristics are available in Table S6.…”

“…summarizes the included interventions (n = 12) and articles (n = 16) [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61]. Detailed intervention characteristics are available in TableS6.…”

Family‐based interventions for preventing overweight or obesity among preschoolers from racial/ethnic minority groups: A scoping review

“…None of the studies enrolling Black/African American participants created culturally tailored components for this community. Components tailored for Hispanic/Latinx participants included recruiting local educators who shared the same cultural background with and were trusted by participants, 45 providing educational materials written in Spanish and delivered by bilingual/Spanish‐speaking educators, 39,40,42,44 selecting intervention locations that participants were familiar with, 42 using food examples that were culturally congruent, 40,42 building rapport between educators and participants, 42 tailoring content to participants' needs in navigating individual, family, and community level barriers 39 . Components tailored for American Indian participants included recruiting educators from the area (tribe), promoting culturally appropriate food and activities, adopting a traditional model of younger generations inheriting life‐skills from the elders, and incorporating the functions of family structure and interactions into the interventions 35,46,47 …”

“…The combination of the traditional model with a focus on the home environment achieved significant improvements in both child and adult weight‐related behaviors. Included studies also employed various methods to build rapport among participants, such as recruiting “promotoras” (individuals who were trusted from the community of target population), creating educational videos featuring families from diverse cultural background, and adding time for open communication between educators and participants prior to every education session 42 . Leveraging the existing interactions among family members and building rapport could be specifically beneficial for racial and/or ethnic minority participants.…”

“…35,36,40,41 Five and three interventions, respectively, enrolled primarily Hispanic/Latinx and American Indian families, and included culturally tailored curriculum or materials. 35,39,40,42,[44][45][46][47] The remaining studies targeted diverse racial and/or ethnic minority communities.…”