Competency-based Approaches to Community Health

The complex multi-level determinants of childhood obesity necessitate a personalized approach. One of the main challenges to effective behavior change interventions is the complexity of the systems in which these behaviors are situated. Namely, health behaviors are the result of the confluence of macro-level influences (e.g., the built environment, family, etc.) and micro-level influences (e.g., stress). Furthermore, it is imperative that attempts to support healthy childhood growth consider the foundational contribution of a person's culture to their health behaviors, especially as children from traditionally underserved minorities are often hardest hit by obesity.

This program will test a 15 week behavioral intervention followed by 3 months of coaching calls that uses principles from the learning sciences and health behavior change to help shape healthy behaviors in the context of family. The follow-up of the study will last 1 year. The content of the intervention will focus on health behavior change, including teaching goal-setting and self monitoring skills, as well as parenting strategies.

The primary outcome of interest will be early childhood BMI trajectory over 1 year. Additional measures will include survey data to measure parent and child health behaviors (e.g., diet, physical activity, sleep, media use) that are associated with obesity.

Inclusion criteria

• Three-to-five year old child
• Spanish or English-speaking
• Child's BMI ≥ 50%
• Parental commitment to participate in a year long study
• Consistent phone access
• Parent age ≥ 18 years
• Child completion of baseline data collection on height, weight, and waist circumference and all willing survey items completed by the parent
• Parents and children must be healthy (parents with controlled medical conditions will also be eligible).
• Dyad must be considered underserved which will be indicated by the parents self-reporting if they or someone in their household participate in one of these programs or services: TennCare, CoverKids, WIC, Food Stamps (SNAP), Free and Reduced Price School Lunch and Breakfast, Families First (TANF), and/or subsidized housing