title: The empowerment of low-income parents engaged in a childhood obesity intervention.
abstract: Parents influence children's obesity risk factors but are infrequently targeted for interventions. This study targeting low-income parents integrated a community-based participatory research approach with the Family Ecological Model and Empowerment Theory to develop a childhood obesity intervention. This article (1) examines pre- to postintervention changes in parents' empowerment; (2) determines the effects of intervention dose on empowerment, and (3) determines whether changes in parent empowerment mediate previous changes identified in food-, physical activity-, and screen-related parenting. The pre-post quasi-experimental design evaluation demonstrated positive changes in parent empowerment and empowerment predicted improvement in parenting practices. The integrated model applied in this study provides a means to enhance intervention relevance and guide translation to other childhood obesity and health disparities studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy, Management and Behavior, School of Public Health (Dr Jurkowski and Ms Green Mills), and Department of Educational Administration & Policy Studies (Drs Lawson and Wilner) and School of Social Welfare (Dr Lawson), University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York; and Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts (Dr Davison).
authors.forename: Janine M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Jurkowski
authors.forename: Hal A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Lawson
authors.forename: Lisa L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Green Mills
authors.forename: Paul G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Wilner
authors.forename: Kirsten K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Davison
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D011203:Poverty; D011209:Power, Psychological; D020377:Self Efficacy; D055815:Young Adult