The Family Partners for Health Study: A Randomized Cluster Control Trial for Child and Parent Weight Management

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test a two-phased nutrition and exercise education, coping skills training, and exercise intervention for overweight or obese low-income ethnic minority 2nd to 4th grade children and their parents in rural North Carolina, U.S.

Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial was carried out with 358 children (7-10 years) and a parent (n = 358). General linear mixed models were used to determine the effects of the intervention on weight, adiposity, health behaviors and eating and exercise self-efficacy by examining changes in children and parents from baseline to completion of the study (18 months).

Results: At 18 months, children in the experimental group did not have a significantly decreased BMI percentile (P = 0.470); however, they had slowed the increase of their triceps (P = 0.001) and subscapular skinfolds (P < 0.001), improved their dietary knowledge (P = 0.018), and they drank less than one glass of soda per day (P = 0.052) compared to the control group. Parents in the experimental group had decreased their BMI (P = 0.001), triceps (P < 0.001) and subscapular skinfolds (P < 0.001), increased their nutrition (P = 0.003) and exercise (P < 0.001) knowledge and more often drank water or unsweetened drinks (P = 0.029). At 18 months, children in the experimental group did not have a significant improvement in eating (P = 0.956) or exercise self-efficacy (P = 0.976). Experimental parents demonstrated improved socially acceptable eating self-efficacy (P = 0.013), however did not significantly improve their emotional eating self-efficacy (P = 0.155) or exercise self-efficacy (P = 0.680).

Conclusion: The results suggest that including children and parents in the same intervention is an effective way to decrease adiposity and improve nutrition behaviors in both children and parents and improve weight and eating self-efficacy in parents.