Pilot of "Families for Health": community-based family intervention for obesity.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and evaluate "Families for Health", a new community based family intervention for childhood obesity.


METHODS
Programme development, pilot study and evaluation using intention-to-treat analysis.


METHODS
Coventry, England.


METHODS
27 overweight or obese children aged 7-13 years (18 girls, 9 boys) and their parents, from 21 families.


METHODS
Families for Health is a 12-week programme with parallel groups for parents and children, addressing parenting, lifestyle change and social and emotional development.


METHODS
Change in baseline BMI z score at the end of the programme (3 months) and 9-month follow-up. Attendance, drop-out, parents' perception of the programme, child's quality of life and self-esteem, parental mental health, parent-child relationships and lifestyle changes were also measured.


RESULTS
Attendance rate was 62%, with 18 of the 27 (67%) children completing the programme. For the 22 children with follow-up data (including four who dropped out), BMI z score was reduced by -0.18 (95% CI -0.30 to -0.05) at 3 months and -0.21 (-0.35 to -0.07) at 9 months. Statistically significant improvements were observed in children's quality of life and lifestyle (reduced sedentary behaviour, increased steps and reduced exposure to unhealthy foods), child-parent relationships and parents' mental health. Fruit and vegetable consumption, participation in moderate/vigorous exercise and children's self-esteem did not change significantly. Topics on parenting skills, activity and food were rated as helpful and used with confidence by most parents.


CONCLUSIONS
Families for Health is a promising new childhood obesity intervention. Definitive evaluation of its clinical effectiveness by randomised controlled trial is now required.
Robertson
W
W
Health Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. W.Robertson@warwick.ac.uk
Friede
T
T
Blissett
J
J
Rudolf
M C J
MC
Wallis
M
M
Stewart-Brown
S
S
D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D004739:England; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D018579:Patient Selection; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011788:Quality of Life; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors