Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Child Obes. 2023 Jan;19(1):13-24. doi: 10.1089/chi.2021.0225. Epub 2022 Mar 11.
Few childhood obesity prevention interventions have focused exclusively on fathers, particularly in low-income families. The objectives of this study were to determine feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of a father-focused childhood obesity prevention program for low-income families with preschool children (ages 3-5 years old). Father-child pairs ( = 45) enrolled in a community-based intervention in a Northeastern US state and were assigned within groups to intervention ( = 31) or a delayed comparison group ( = 14). The 8-week (2 h/week) program included nutrition, cooking, and parent education. Feasibility (enrollment, retention, and attendance) and acceptability (quality and value of program) of the program were assessed. Pre/Post measures included the Meals in our Household, Comprehensive Feeding Practices, Healthy Kids, and the Cooking Matters questionnaires. -tests were conducted and Hedge's was calculated to estimate effect sizes. Significance was set at ≤ 0.10. Results indicated feasibility and acceptability of the program for intervention fathers, but recruitment and retention of comparison fathers proved challenging. Small to medium effect sizes were detected for improvements in fathers' feeding pressure ( = 0.48, = 0.005), confidence in cooking skills ( = 0.25, = 0.09), ability to cook healthy foods on a budget ( = 0.33, = 0.10), and frequency that fathers cooked dinner ( = 0.15, = 0.06). There was a large effect size detected in the increase of green salad consumption ( = 0.75, = 0.01) by fathers and a small effect size for frequency of children eating vegetables ( = 0.13, = 0.07). While results are promising, further research should evaluate impact of a larger scale father-focused intervention on diet and obesity risk. The project was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT03071419.
很少有儿童肥胖预防干预措施专门针对父亲,特别是在低收入家庭中。本研究的目的是确定针对低收入家庭学龄前儿童(3-5 岁)的以父亲为中心的儿童肥胖预防计划的可行性、可接受性和初步结果。父亲-儿童对(n=45)在美国东北部的一个州参加了一项基于社区的干预,并在组内被分配到干预组(n=31)或延迟对照组(n=14)。为期 8 周(每周 2 小时)的计划包括营养、烹饪和家长教育。评估了该计划的可行性(参与、保留和出勤率)和可接受性(计划的质量和价值)。预/后测量包括《家庭膳食》、《综合喂养实践》、《健康儿童》和《烹饪要点》问卷。进行了 t 检验,并计算了 Hedge's g 以估计效应大小。显著性设定为≤0.10。结果表明,干预组父亲对该计划的可行性和可接受性,但对照组父亲的招募和保留证明具有挑战性。父亲喂养压力(g=0.48,p=0.005)、烹饪技能信心(g=0.25,p=0.09)、预算烹饪健康食品能力(g=0.33,p=0.10)和父亲做晚餐频率(g=0.15,p=0.06)的改善均检测到小到中等效应大小。父亲食用绿色沙拉的频率(g=0.75,p=0.01)和儿童食用蔬菜的频率(g=0.13,p=0.07)均有较大的效应大小。虽然结果很有希望,但还需要进一步的研究来评估更大规模的以父亲为中心的干预对饮食和肥胖风险的影响。该项目在 ClinicalTrials.gov 上注册为 NCT03071419。