Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
J Hum Nutr Diet. 2012 Oct;25(5):460-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-277X.2012.01247.x. Epub 2012 Apr 11.
One in four children in England is overweight/obese upon starting school. HENRY (Health Exercise Nutrition for the Really Young) offers a novel, preventive approach to this problem by training practitioners to work more effectively with the parents of preschool children around obesity and lifestyle issues. The programme is being delivered to all Sure Start Children's Centres (the UK government initiative providing family support and childcare in disadvantaged areas) in Leeds, UK.
The evaluation covered the first 12 Centres to be trained (these had a reach of approximately 5000 families). A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with Centre managers, and 'drop boxes' were provided for all staff to leave their comments. Interviews took place up to 11 months post-training, allowing a consideration of any long-term impact.
Data from 12 interviews and 106 comment slips indicated that HENRY training was associated with considerable changes to the Centre environment. Immediate effects included changes to Centre policy and practice, including the provision of age-appropriate portion sizes and the introduction of healthy snacks; a strengthening of team working and increased staff confidence around tackling lifestyle change; and enhanced skills when working with families. Training also induced changes within the staff's personal lives (e.g. increased physical activity and family mealtimes).
The findings suggest that positive and lasting lifestyle effects can be achieved by brief training courses involving Children's Centre staff teams. Both staff and attendant families appear to benefit. The effect on levels of preschool obesity across the city once HENRY has extended to the remaining Centres is yet to be seen.
在英国，每四个上学的孩子中就有一个超重/肥胖。HENRY（针对幼儿的健康运动营养）通过培训从业者，使其能够更有效地与学龄前儿童的家长就肥胖和生活方式问题进行合作，为解决这一问题提供了一种新颖的预防方法。该计划正在英国利兹的所有“起点儿童中心”（英国政府为贫困地区提供家庭支持和儿童保育的计划）实施。
评估涵盖了前 12 个接受培训的中心（这些中心的服务范围约为 5000 个家庭）。对中心管理人员进行了一系列半结构化访谈，并为所有工作人员提供了“意见箱”，以便他们留下意见。访谈在培训后最多进行 11 个月，以便考虑任何长期影响。
来自 12 次访谈和 106 张意见表的数据表明，HENRY 培训与中心环境的重大变化有关。直接影响包括中心政策和实践的改变，包括提供适合年龄的份量和引入健康小吃；团队合作的加强和工作人员在解决生活方式改变方面的信心增强；以及在与家庭合作时的技能提升。培训还影响了工作人员的个人生活（例如，增加了体育活动和家庭用餐时间）。
研究结果表明，通过涉及儿童中心工作人员团队的简短培训课程，可以实现积极和持久的生活方式改变。工作人员和随行的家庭似乎都受益。一旦 HENRY 扩展到其余的中心，全市学龄前儿童肥胖水平的影响还有待观察。
