Early childhood obesity prevention in low-income, urban communities.
Given the disproportionately high rates of obesity-related morbidity among low-income, ethnic minority youth, obesity prevention in this population is critical. Prior efforts to curb childhood obesity have had limited public health impact. The present study evaluates an innovative approach to obesity prevention by promoting foundational parenting and child behavioral regulation. This pre-post intervention study evaluated an enhanced version of ParentCorps with 91 families of pre-Kindergarten students in low-income, urban communities. Assessments included tests of knowledge and parent report. Consistent with findings from two randomized controlled trials of ParentCorps, parent knowledge and use of foundational parenting practices increased and child behavior problems decreased. Child nutrition knowledge and physical activity increased and television watching decreased; for boys, sleep problems decreased. Comparable benefits occurred for children at high risk for obesity based on child dysregulation, child overweight, and parent overweight. Results support a "whole child," family-centered approach to health promotion in early childhood.
a Department of Population Health , New York University Langone Medical Center , New York , New York , USA.
Spring
S
Dawson-McClure
Laurie Miller
LM
Brotman
Rachelle
R
Theise
Joseph J
JJ
Palamar
Dimitra
D
Kamboukos
R Gabriela
RG
Barajas
Esther J
EJ
Calzada
D002675:Child, Preschool; D061345:Early Medical Intervention / Q000379:methods*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011203:Poverty; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data