Abstract
Research identifying associations between parental behaviors and children's food and
activity choices and weight suggests that the integration of parenting and nutrition
education holds promise for promoting healthful eating and activity in families. However,
translational research leading to sustainable interventions lags behind. Development
and testing of interventions within actual program contexts is needed to facilitate
translation to full-scale implementation. Therefore, the goal of this pilot study
was to develop and test an integrated nutrition and parenting education intervention
for low-income families within the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program in
New York State. During a 21-month period, low-income parents of 3- to 11-year-olds
were recruited through usual programmatic channels by nutrition program staff to participate
in a series of eight workshops delivered to small groups. A validated self-administered
questionnaire was used to assess behavior change outcomes among 210 parents who completed
the program. Mean scores improved significantly for most behaviors, including adult
fruit and vegetable intake; adult and child low-fat dairy and soda intake; and child
fast-food intake, activity, and screen time (P<0.001). Many parents reported eating together with children at program entry, leaving
little room to improve, but about 20% reported at least a 1-point improvement (on
a 5-point scale). The most frequent change was reducing how often children ate fast
food and was reported by >50% of parents. Design and testing through practice-based
research can facilitate development of interventions that are both feasible and likely
to improve eating and activity behaviors among low-income families.
Keywords
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Biography
K. L. Dickin is a research scientist, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Biography
T. F. Hill is an extension associate, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Biography
J. S. Dollahite is a professor, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 04, 2013
Accepted:
September 25,
2013
Footnotes
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT Funding for this project was provided by the US Department of Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the US Department of Agriculture.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
