Mobile Methods for Reducing Obesity Risk in Parents and Children

Weight change from baseline to 6 months calculated as a percent from baseline weight.

Absolute weight change from baseline to 6 months.

Number of days of complete dietary tracking summed over the 6-month study period.

Change in parent daily caloric intake as measured by 24-hour dietary recall from baseline to 6 months.

Change in child daily caloric intake as measured by 24-hour dietary recall from baseline to 6 months.

Weight change calculated as a percent from baseline weight (measured in kg), using official assessment weights taken from participants' study-provided WiFi-enabled weighing scale and transmitted via WiFi, from baseline to 3, and 6 months.

Change in child BMI-percentile using at-home measurements of child's weight (on parent WiFi-enabled scale) and height

Change in minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity as measured by the Paffenbarger Physical Activity Questionnaire, from baseline to 3, and 6 months. The PPAQ is a self-administered questionnaire that asks for a recall of physical activity over the previous 1 week. Participants report how many days and for how many minutes each day they engage in brisk walking, and report other exercise activities that week (non-occupational and non-household-related), including how many days and for how many minutes each time. Activities are assigned MET values according to the Compendium of Physical Activities, when are then used to classify activities as light moderate, or vigorous, and are also assigned energy expenditure amounts in kcal. These values are used to calculate total energy expenditure in kcal/week, as well as energy expenditure from and total minutes engaged in moderate-to-vigorous activities, measured in kcal/week and minutes/week, respectively.

Change in sedentary behavior as measured by the self-administered Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire for Adults (SBQ), from baseline to 3, and 6 months. The SBQ asks about amount of sitting time on weekdays (8 items) and weekends (8 items), and are scored by summing up the total time spent in sedentary time (in hours) on weekdays and weekends, ranging from 0 hours to 6+ hours per day.

Change in healthy and unhealthy foods offered in the home as measured by a physical food environment self-report questionnaire, from baseline to 3, and 6 months. There are 80 total items, 32 unhealthy items and 48 healthy items. Participants report whether each food/drink item is in the home or not (yes or no), and the items are summed for an unhealthy total and healthy total, and may also be used to total number of sugar-sweetened beverages/juice (out of 8 items), caloric beverages (15 items), fruits (17 items), vegetables (14 items), high-fat high-calorie items (20 items), and low-fat low-calorie items (14 items). Higher numbers indicate greater amounts of those types of food in the home.

Change in social food environment as measured by the Meals in our Household Questionnaire, from baseline to 3, and 6 months. This consists of 50 items across 6 subscales, summed to create a total score for each: structure of family meals (10 items, score range 0-40), problematic child mealtime behaviors (20 items, range 0-70), use of food as a reward (6 items, range 0-24), parental concern about child's diet (17 items, range 0-85), spousal stress related to child's mealtime behaviors (4 items, score range 4-20), and influence of child's food preferences on what other family members eat (3 items, range 2-14). Higher scores indicate higher instances of use of the scale in question (ex: greater structure of family meals, greater use of food as a reward, etc.).

Change in household food rules as measured by 12 items from the self-report Active Where Parent-Child Survey, from baseline to 3, and 6 months. The 12 items are summed to create a total score that ranges from 0-12, where higher scores indicate a greater number of food rules used.

Change in weight control self-efficacy using the 20-item self-report Weight Efficacy Lifestyle Questionnaire, from baseline to 3, and 6 months. Items are rated on a scale of 0-9, and summed for a total score ranging from 0-180, with higher scores indicated greater self-efficacy.

Change in self-efficacy for exercise, as measured by the self-reported Self-Efficacy and Exercise Habits Survey, from baseline to 3, and 6 months. Responses for two subscales (Sticking to it - 8 items, Making time for exercise - 4 items) are averaged to yield a score from 1 to 5, with higher values representing higher self-efficacy for exercise.

Change in self-regulation as measured by the 26-item self-report Eating Behavior Inventory, from baseline to 3, and 6 months. Scores range from 26-130, with higher scores indicating more use of positive eating behaviors.

Change in depressive symptoms, as measured by the self-report 20-tem Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), from baseline to 3, and 6 months. Scores range from 0-60, with higher scores indicating more depressive symptoms.

Change in stress, as measured by the self-report 10-item Perceived Stress scale, from baseline to 3 and 6 months. Scores range from 0-40, with higher scores indicating greater stress.