Families and Schools for Health

Overview

The purpose of the study is to test the effectiveness of a child obesity intervention with multiple components targeting nutrition and/or psycho-social factors in children, their parents, and their classmates. The specific aims of the study are to (1) Determine the effectiveness of two family-level interventions for improving child outcomes (unhealthy eating, low activity, and overweight); (2) Determine the extent to which adding a family dynamics component enhances the effectiveness of a family lifestyle intervention and improves the child outcomes listed above; and (3) Determine the extent to which a peer-level intervention improves the effectiveness of two family-level interventions among overweight children.

The Families and Schools for Health (FiSH) Project evaluates a psychosocial intervention that targets the family and peer contexts of overweight children. 23 rural schools were identified for participation (schools within a 90-mile radius of the PI's campus were targeted) and each was assigned to one of five intervention conditions using stratified random sampling, with stratification based on proximity to each other (to avoid spill-over effects) and proportion of Native American Indian students. A community sample of 1186 1st grade children, their families, and their teachers were successfully recruited. Anthropometric assessments were conducted with the 1186 children. Those who were not at Control schools were invited to participate in the intervention. 541 children qualified for the intervention (i.e., had BMI% \> 75%), including 459 at Intervention schools and 82 at Control schools. Intervention conditions were (1) a 12-week Family Food \& Lifestyle intervention (FL), aimed at improving family nutritional intake, activity levels, weight perception, and parental monitoring of child eating; (2) a 12-week Family Food \& Lifestyle and Family Dynamics intervention (FL+FD) that additionally targets dysfunctional family patterns such as high conflict, poor parent-child communication, and parental over-control or permissiveness; and (3) a Peer Group (PG) intervention conducted throughout one semester of the school year that includes a guidance-type curriculum sensitizing children to the importance of social inclusion of all children. Thus, 5 treatment groups were evaluated in the intervention year and followed through 4th grade: FL, FL+FD, FL+PG, FL+FD+PG, and Control. Child psychosocial variables such as emotional eating, self-esteem, loneliness, and social withdrawal will be analyzed as mediators between family/peer contexts and child overweight.